


Handle With Care

by swim



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Animal Death, Eventual Smut, Headcanon Backstory, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Max has bad parents and he suffers, Max is canon age, Mental Illness, Night Terrors, Pedophilia, Slow Burn, Sorry dudes, a lot of dadvid elements too, animal cruelty, i actually feel bad about writing this, no real penetration or anal, noncon, pedophile David, will update tags as chapters are added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-11-12
Packaged: 2019-06-23 03:23:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15597144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swim/pseuds/swim
Summary: Max may be away from home, but he’s still haunted in his dreams by an unspeakable evil. Desparate for help and relief, he seeks out comfort from his counselors, and luckily for him, David is an insomniac and is able to stay up with him.David wants to help Max but neither have the best communication skills or know how to traverse their budding friendship.It’s awkward and jerky at first, but with persistence and time they become close and discover more about themselves and each other.. maybe more than they should.THIS IS A MAXVID FIC, READ WITH CAUTION





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FelineJaye](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FelineJaye/gifts), [Kialish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kialish/gifts).



> Breaks with ellipsis represent time passing, a hard line is character POV changing.

Max jolted awake, sitting upright, his cheeks were hot and wet with tears that had been freely streaming moments ago. His breath came in fast heavy pants as he frantically glanced around his tent, drawing his knees into his body and groping his hand around the bed, searching for Mr.Honeynuts without pulling his eyes away from his surroundings. The boy’s small fingers came down on the bear’s soft leg and he quickly drew the stuffie tightly against his chest before clumsily and hastily clearing the salty streaks off his face with his palm.

‘Shit. Fuck! FUCK! ‘ 

His inner dialogue was unorganized and racing as he gave a few quiet but panicked sobs, squinting closed his wide eyes then snapping them back open to scan the room again. He couldn’t get enough air, it was all hot, sweaty and suffocating. He was gasping for air and a small consciously aware part of him in the back of his mind knew he looked like an idiot.

‘Calm down, pussy.’ 

His angry rational side snapped at him, following with a harsh monologue of names that did very little to quell his frightened state of mind.

‘PLEEASE!’ 

He silently cried out to nothing in particular,

‘HELP ME!!!’

He let out a strained noise and squeezed his plushie.

...........

His breathing had slowed but he was still on edge, throwing glances at any noise he heard outside the thin fabric walls, and he knew that he had to do something so that he wouldn’t get upset again. Something to distract him. He looked at Mr.Honeynuts, the bear giving a lopsided, vacant, button-eyed stare back at him. 

“You helped me get this far but I don’t think you can handle everything.” He whispered quietly and affectionately to the stuffed animal before kissing it on the nose. He looked at the door flap.

‘Don’t.’ 

He chewed his lip, evaluating his options trying to push away the voice yelling at him for how stupid, childish, and immature he was being. 

‘What are you? A baby? Nobody likes needy people.’ 

He scowled and began to move his legs from where they’d been protectively pressed against his body. Sweat had dampened his pj’s and the sudden coolness of the night air made him shiver. He scooted to the edge of his cot and slipped off, taking his bear with him. A few more tears fell without a noise as he carefully crept to the tent opening, not bothering to put on shoes. He pulled back the flap ever so slightly and peeked out to inspect the environment. 

After deciding it was safe enough, he tip toed out, clutching his plushie close. Swiveling his head every few seconds, he slunk as quickly and soft-footed as he could. Even though it was highly unlikely since it was the middle of the night, he reeally didn’t want to be seen by another camper and have to explain exactly where it was he was going. In a few short moments he stood in front of the counselors cabin.

‘Go back while you still can. This is idiotic and you know it.’ 

He chewed his cheek and gave Mr.Honeynuts a squeeze. 

‘God, this is so embarrassing.’

The single porch step felt like a mountain and he took it at an agonizingly slow pace. He huffed, now it was just the door left.. his hand hovered in front of the worn wood of it, poised to knock. 

‘Fuck-‘

His hand came down gently, barely audible even to him, but from within the cabin there was a stir, then a rustle, and eventually footsteps approaching the door. 

‘RUN!’ 

The small boy’s body tensed as he fought every instinctual urge to flee as the door creaked open. There was silence as he just stared down at his socked feet, flushing with humiliation. 

“Max?” The familiar voice was coated in a sleepy syrup, “Are you alright?”

The camper looked up at his- stupidly over enthusiastic, idiot, dumb, ugly -counselor with a frustrated expression and tears brimming in his eyes. His fists balled up.

“I.. I had a nightmare.” He choked out frustratedly and quickly averted his gaze, opting to instead study his sock once more as it kicked at the ground with annoyance.

“Oh.” David’s expression changed from mild confusion to soft concern, opening the door wider as a gesture for Max to enter, who did so hesitantly, with a glance over his shoulder first. 

Once inside he could see that the main room between the two counselor bedrooms was filled with the flickering light of a TV on the lowest volume setting, one bedroom door was shut and he assumed that one belonged to Gwen as she was nowhere else to be seen. 

The tall, lanky man, made his way to the ratty old couch in front of the television where he plunked down, the camper followed a few steps behind, taking time to peer into the adult’s room and noticed it was mostly untouched, and that plus the fact that there was a blanket strewn across the arm of the sofa, made it apparent David had been in that same spot before Max arrived, which relieved the boy that at least he hadn’t woken the counselor up. 

‘Who cares if you woke him up. I wish he had been asleep cause I bet then he wouldn’t have heard you knock.’ 

The boys scowl deepened as he made it to the couch. He stood in front of it holding his stuffed animal, quizzically looking at his counselor. 

‘You look so helpless and dumb.’ 

The man pulled his eyes from the moving images displayed on the TV and looked down at Max, with a sleepy but content expression before patting the cushion next to him. The camper blinked up at him before climbing up onto the couch, a healthy distance from the usually nauseatingly upbeat man. He was more tolerable at night, less talkative. His counselor offered him the blanket he’d retrieved from where it’d been discarded, which Max took spread across his lap.

The kid studied the television where an old, white, afro-clad man painted some nature scenery and droned on about ‘happy little trees’ or something else moronic. He couldn’t help but smirk at how this is exactly what David would watch. He glanced over at the red head who had gone back to watching the show, half-lidded and leaning against his respective armrest. 

Returning his gaze to the oddly calming program, Max pulled his legs up onto the seat and laid his head on the arm of the sofa, hugging Mr.Honeynuts loosely to his torso. 

This was much better than his tent, comfortable and safe instead of stuffy and vulnerable. He could see his counselor breathing steadily and dozing off out the corner of his eye, and he felt.. okay. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. 

______________________________

David’s eyes eased open, still sitting on the sofa where he had been the night before. Early morning light filled the cabin with a pale ambient glow as the alarm clock in his bedroom rang out. He dragged a hand over his face. 

‘I need to stop falling asleep on the couch.’ 

He stretched his arms up over his head, arching his back and straightening his legs, his eyes were scrunched shut but he felt a small form shift and sigh next to him, pushing it’s little feet against his thigh. 

‘Oh.’ 

His eyes snapped to Max, sleeping heavily beside him, the boys frame rising and falling with each breath. 

‘Right.’

He took a moment to stare, marveling at how calm and peaceful the usually snappy and guarded boy looked.

It was easy, when the camper was awake, to forget that he was just a kid because he behaved so much like an adult. And when the counselor was in a more pensive mood, it made his heart ache, because he knew it wasn’t fair to the boy that he had to grow up so fast. 

But when his small brow was relaxed and his lips slightly puckered in dream-thought, it was so blatantly obvious that this full cheeked, lightly twitching child was just in fact that, a child. 

‘He looks so peachy and soft.. so nice to feel..’

The man tore his gaze away as he came back to reality, he wouldn’t break Max’s boundaries like that, plus wanting to touch your camper’s sleeping face was just kinda..

‘Creepy.’ 

Exactly. He removed his section of blanket before rising to turn off the incessant beeping of his clock. As he shuffled around the cabin, yawning, he briefly wondered what Max had dreamt about last night that was so unsettling that it actually got him to get up and ask for help. He made it a point to talk to the camper about it. 

‘That’ll be fun.’

He silently remarked, then scolded himself for being so pessimistic. He switched off alarm, walked back out, through the living room, and into the small kitchenette shared by himself and Gwen. He stood and vacantly stared at the counter, his brain was muddled and still waking up, but in the corner of his mind he could hear his co-counselor rustling in her room and groaning in dismay. 

He smiled as she slowly roused, pulling out two mugs, he paused and stared at the cups, then pulled out a third. His usual routine was to make coffee for Gwen and tea for himself, but he’d throw in some extra grounds for Max. 

After setting up the machine and putting on his kettle he strode over to the TV, still playing his favorite season of The Joy of Painting on VHS, and switched it cable. He turned up the volume a few notches so that he could better hear the weather report, but not enough to wake up the camper. He’d learned the hard way to always quadruple check the day’s climate. 

His co-counselor emerged wearing an incredibly grumpy and discontent expression, practically unchanged when she noticed Max’s sleeping form. 

“What the fuck is he doing here?” Her pointed grumble was more of a demand than a question as the beep of the coffee maker rang through the room. 

“Gwen, language!” He reminded with a smile as he crossed the small cabin to pour all their mugs.

“For fucks sa-“ 

“He came to the door last night after a nightmare so I let him sleep on the couch.” He cut off her rant while handing her her heavily creamed and sugared coffee. She took a sip and skeptically studied the boy on their sofa. 

“He looks like a lot less of a shit when he’s asleep, but keep an eye on him, I don’t trust for one second that his motives are so innocent.” The redhead just smiled and gave the slightest of eye rolls before taking his tea and Max’s coffee to the TV where the camper was already beginning to stir. 

“Wakey wakey, Max!“ David beamed in his cheery voice adorning a large smile as he set the mugs down on the coffee table, “Time to rise and shine!”

“Wakey wakey?” The boy repeated in a disgusted tone, his eyes barely slits, glaring up his superior. 

“Yup! Time to campe diem!” He grinned and saluted.

“UGH. More like campe suck em, camp man.” The camper hissed and rolled over, covering his head with a blanket and facing his back to David, his co-counselor snickered behind him.

‘Don’t encourage his behavior, Gwen.’

He scowled but held his tongue, he’s learned to pick his battles, with both of them. Oh well, he had to get dressed in day clothes anyway. He headed to his room and shut the door behind him, leaning his back against the frame and looking at the floor. He was spacey. More than usual.

The counselor shook his head and made his way to his wooden dresser, opening drawers and humming to clear his mind as he got his work outfit together. It didn’t take long before he was stepping back out into the living area, a pleased smile gracing his face when he saw Max sitting up, intermittently sipping coffee as he lazily watched the news being broadcast on screen and Gwen next to him on the couch with her mug and a magazine. 

‘Oh, this is nice!’ 

He inwardly reinforced as he walked behind the couch, ruffling the boy’s hair. 

“Time for you to go get ready for your day!” He instructed, “I’ll be making rounds to wake up the other campers soon!”

Max swatted his hand away, landing a solid slap on the man’s wrist which earned a wince but did nothing to waver his smile, but after a nasty glare the youngest of the trio slipped off the couch and nonchalantly made his way out with his bear. 

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” Gwen called after the small boy, who flipped her off in return. 

“See you at breakfast!” David chimed after Max, but he was already gone.

___________________________

‘Ugh. How unbearable.’ 

The moody boy grumbled to himself as he made his way down the trail to the tents. Recalling last nights events, all he really wanted to do was curl up and die.

‘Pathetic.’

He lifted up the door flap and looked inside the small space and at his empty, messy cot. As intolerable as David could be, at least the cabin was a lot nicer than staying in this shabby excuse of shelter.. 

‘Hardly.’ 

He hit the palm of his hand against his temple and then shuffled inside the tent, he honestly wished he could just shut himself up sometimes. 

The boy gently plopped Mr.Honeynuts down on the tattered ‘bed’ before dropping to his knees to rustle through the backpack containing his clothes. He pulled out the hideous mandatory camp shirt, one of his two pairs of jeans, and his staple blue sweatshirt before standing to shimmy on the garments. After he was fully dressed he ruffled out his hair, momentarily thinking of David’s hand that so often found its place atop his head. 

‘Ew.’ 

He kicked his discarded pj’s in the general direction of his bag before toeing on his shoes and, once again, exiting the tent. He could already hear the counselors making their way through camp rousing the other inhabitants, evoking a myriad of various indignant groans and complaints. Although slowly but surely, as with all mornings, the campers began to trickle out and into the mess hall for breakfast. 

The grumpy boy spotted the familiar blue hair and Jew-fro duo bobbing towards the cafeteria and slightly picked up his pace to catch them before they entered. 

‘Don’t look so desperate.’

“Morning, Max!” Niki bounced excitedly, ready for whatever destruction the day had in store, he just nodded at her in acknowledgment as Neil gave an unsightly yawn.

“Not much sleep? I thought you’d have used that giant brain of yours to invent some sort of knock out drug by now.” The Max jabbed, earning a scoff from the science enthusiast. 

“They have plenty of those, I just find they dampen my intellect when used consistently.” 

“Oh shut u-“

But before he could finish his exasperated retort, Nikki’s nose began to twitch and she tore off, straight into the hall exclaiming about pancakes, effectively cutting him off mid sentence and leaving them both staring after her dust trail. 

“I don’t know how she can be so excited about pancakes that are uncooked batter yet somehow burnt at the same time.” Neil wondered aloud with what sounded like genuine curiosity.

“Yeah, plus we have them like everyday.” Max added, causing both boys to snicker. 

He felt lighter as the last tendrils of last night’s nightmare were slipping from his mind and they followed after their spunky companion. 

.......

Max dropped his tray on the table with apathy, a few ‘egg’ crumbles bounced out of their plastic retainment walls and onto the bench, before he sat down with just as much harrumph. He took a bite of some sort of sausage before mock gagging and pushing the plate towards Nikki, who had already scarfed down most of her food and was eagerly eyeing her picky counterpart’s. 

“Enjoy.” He said with a wave of his hand and the shitty French accent of a fancy waiter. 

“Hell yeah!” She beamed, grabbing and sliding it the rest of the way to her side. 

“Ha, ‘enjoy’.” Neil repeated facetiously, “If my body could survive for three months without food I would have burned down the damn pantry the second I got here so we wouldn’t have to consume... this.” He demonstrated his point by slopping chunky batter from his fork before opting to nibble the yellow scramble next to it. 

The boy adjacent to him nodded in agreement, that was one of the many factors of why Max didn’t eat. He didn’t eat much at home but he ate even less here, and at least here he was offered three meals a day. 

Max huffed and rested his cheek against his hand, scanning the cafeteria, listing the bodies he passed his eyes with 

‘Narcissist bitch, fedora bitch, werewolf-dick licker, Houdini’s scrotum.. Nazi.’ 

He shifted and gazed over to the other side. 

‘Angry thyroid disorder, space cadet, 180 decibels, David-‘ 

Max straightened up, eyes widening. 

‘Why no snarky label for that disgusting ray of sunshine??’ 

He dropped his head against the table with a thunk. 

‘Yeah, okay, he’s so stupid that just his name is an insult.. I was just being witty.’

His friends shared a glance of confusion but decided it best to leave the boy to his brooding.

After another ten minutes of Max pressing his forehead against the table and the duo continuously bantering next to him, David stood up and began rounding up groggy children to force into the day’s activities.

“C’mon kiddos! Breakfast time’s over, we gotta start knot tying camp!” The counselor sing songed as he twirled around the room, picking up the neglected trays of campers who chose not to return them to the counter. Max physically shuddered in contempt of the man’s voice and how unnaturally upbeat it sounded to his bitter ears. All the same, he got down from where he sat and walked around the bench to join his two friends who had started meandering towards the entrance. 

“Hey, David, I have a question about our activity.” Feigning innocence, he called the attention of the redhead, who was very obviously ecstatic to be asked something, “Can you teach us how to tie a noose?” 

“MAX!” He yelped, his face immediately paling and the bouncy movement ceasing momentarily before he regained composure to scold the boy, “Inappropriate!”

_____________________________

David’s mouth wasn’t even finished forming the first word of his ‘suicide is not a joke’ lecture as Max left the dining hall. He snapped his mouth shut.

‘Dang it.’ 

He turned to finish putting trays away as he was struck with the idea to have a suicide prevention activity this week.

‘A little dark, but it could do real good for the campers’ futures!’ 

He stacked what looked to be the last of the left-behind plates before picking up a plastic tub and his clipboard from where he had been sitting during breakfast. He scanned over his check list then headed out to the clearing where Gwen had corralled the campers.

“Goooooooood morning campers!” He beamed, eliciting several vulgar responses he opted to ignore. “Everyone ready to tie some knots?” 

The counselor dropped the bin he had been carrying on his hip, onto the dusty ground before kneeling and popping off the lid, revealing enough short segments of rope for each camper.

“Yes David, I’m totally ready..” Preston swayed back and forth, trying to hold in a belting laugh, “KNOT!” He squawked his mediocre pun, flailing his arms up as he did. 

“Good one!” The man smiled back, “You’ll be good in word play camp!” 

“There’s no way that’s a real thing.” Max cut in sharply.

“It is now!” He grinned, causing another collective groan from the kids. 

........

‘That must be some sort of record; fastest ruined activity’

David grumbled inaudibly as he put away tangled and half tied bits of rope, he had to end early after Nurf’s eighth attempt at strangling or restraining another camper and Gwen had to go to the counselor’s cabin to treat Dolph for third degree rope burns. Without his female counterpart to run a different activity, he had to allow the campers free-time until their before-lunch hike. 

He huffed as he snapped the tub’s lid back in place, it’s contents now packed neatly back inside. He sat on the ground near the box, pinching his brow as he heard the campers noisily arguing and playing around the campground. 

Oh well, at least this gave him more time to get some planning done. He flipped open his clipboard, scanning over the week’s activity plans, ticking this morning’s off the list. After lunch there was first aid, something Nurf surprisingly enjoyed, tomorrow was wilderness survival and animal identification, Nikki would enjoy those, the day after could be word- 

“AAAWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” A shrill cry interrupted his thought as a small blue-haired assailant flew through the air towards him. He immediately let out a high pitched scream and tried to shield his most vital organs as the camper landed her attack of teeth and nails.

“NIKKI!!” The man waved the arm she had latched onto, attempting to escape her bite. 

“That’s it Nikki, stay on ‘im!!” Max jeered, emerging out of the bushes where the attack had come from moments before, his nerdy companion followed close behind, engrossed in his watch.

“Nikki let go!” David’s voice was still shriek-like but slightly more commanding, as he held his arm, and by proxy his adversary, away from himself.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaand, TIME!” Neil shouted gleefully, finally looking from his watch as the girl unclamped her jaw and dropped to the ground. 

“Damnit!” Preston exclaimed as he and three other campers found their way out of the bushes.

“A deals a deal.” Max snarked, thrusting his hand out “Now fork it over.”

“Ugh, whatever.” Ered sighed, reluctantly slapping two dollars into the boy’s outstretched hand. 

“I’m still not convinced you didn’t plan this ahead of time.” Preston squinted accusingly as he dropped several quarters into the growing pile of cash, followed by Space Kid who just sniffed sadly and handed over three hard candies and a Spikeymon Galaxy gameboy cartridge. The smug winner then turned to the last kid.

“Uh, yeah, how ‘bout you just count yourself lucky I’m not beating the victory straight out of you right now.” Nurf grunted back.

“I’ll take it!” Max grinned, closing his fist around their profit and shoving it into his pocket before he addressed Neil and Nikki, “Good work, team!”

The blue-haired offender scampered back to her friends; they were they the last ones still in the clearing and started to leave, causing David snapped back to reality, registering what he’d just witnessed. 

“Now wait just a gosh darn minute!” He ordered, holding up a finger, “Camp Campbell doesn’t allow gambling between campers! Especially not for candy and real money!”

“Oh go suck a dick, David.” The haughty leader of the trio shot back, not even bothering to look back over his shoulder. 

The counselor opened his mouth to retaliate and demand the respect of the campers but then shut it and dropped his finger.

‘Right.. pick your battles.’

He sighed heavily and sat back down on the dirt, defeated. And here he thought Max coming for help last night was some sort of emotional breakthrough. 

‘Idiot.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this happened because of a dream I had. 
> 
> Also a big thanks to FelineJaye and Kialish for writing Living With Max, one of my all time favorite fics, it inspired me to write my own!! 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I would love constructive critiscism as well as positive feedback if you have any! 
> 
> Hate comments will be deleted, but thanks for giving me another hit by coming haha!
> 
> Playlist for fic: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZXN3XKOeaDhpE-7Xm-beuZ7whmtCr9ma


	2. Chapter 2

“Max!!” Neil’s exasperated cry finally tore the boy from his haze.

“Oh, huh?” The mess hall was warmly lit and buzzing with evening chatter.

“Huh! Huh?? I asked you what you thought about all that I jut said!?”

“Uuuuh... cool?” The slightly annoyed camper pushed dinner around his plate, honestly not sure what his friend had been talking about. 

“Coo- are you serious? Cool? That’s all you have to say about statistics that high for us dying before we’re twenty!!!?” The nerd gawked.

“Yeah, not all of us wanna live that long, Neil.” He spat harshly with his eyes narrowed to cruel slits. 

“Jeez.. you okay there?” Nikki stopped shoveling in grainy potatoes long enough to feign concern.

“Yeah, that was a bit dark, even for you.” His friends looked nervous. 

‘Fuck, way to draw attention to yourself.’

“Whatever, learn to take a joke.” He tried to deflect, rolling his eyes and nudging his tray away, “I’m full, you can have the rest, Nikki.”

“But you haven’t even ea-“

Max slid from his spot at the table before she could finish and walked away, he didn’t know where he was going but he wanted to escape the tension he’d created. He quickly scanned the other tables to see what options he had. Not great. Maybe David..

‘Just leave.’

Biting his lip, he quickly and quietly made his way out of the cafeteria, knowing he wasn’t really allowed to be outside during meal times. Not that the counselors could stop him from leaving anyways, he was just tired and didn’t feel like dealing with them. 

He gently shut the large doors behind him and closed his eyes, he took a deep breath, feeling the cool evening air fill his small body before letting out a sigh. He liked his friends but they could be a little overwhelming sometimes. 

The camper spotted the lake, the water was illuminated by the setting sun with reflective orange and pinks. The sight drew him in like a moth to light, and it didn’t take long for him to make his way down to the dock.

Max settled down near the edge of the wooden walkway so that he could peer down at the water as it gently lapped towards the shore. Crossing his legs and resting his chin in his hand, he momentarily mused that he should have collected some rocks to skip before opting to just soak in the silence. It honestly wasn’t that horrible at camp when he was left in peace to brood like this. 

Then, as though his thought had been heard and the universe was personally out to spite him, the boards behind him creaked. He quickly turned to look over his shoulder at who the fuck was intruding his precious alone time.

‘Are you fucking serious??’

“Hey, Maax.” David smiled timidly, obviously wanting an invitation to join the boy, one he most definitely wasn’t going to get. 

‘Faaaantastic.’

The camper just sharply turned away and dropped his head into the palm of his hand, hoping that his lack of answer would be enough to deter the man. He was once again annoyed and disappointed when he felt the wood shift and his counselor sit down next to him. 

“Can we talk?” David tried once more, there was no reply and the redhead dangled his thin legs off the dock’s edge, “About last night?” 

 

“Jeez, I thought Gwen was the nosy one with the psych degree.” The boy finally snarked in reply.

“Oh I can go get her if that’s who you’d rathe-“ 

“No.” 

There was a long silence that hung between them. Max watched as the man splashed the toe of his hiking boot through the water, he could here as the older of them opened and closed his mouth, attempting to restart the conversation. 

“So..” He seemed to be still formulating the right thing to say, “Is there anything.. you wanted to talk about?” 

The kid finally looked up at the counselors face. It was obvious how hard he was trying to get him to spill his guts.. it was almost sweet. Almost.

“No, David.”

“But-“

“I said no.” 

The man almost looked hurt, but he didn’t push anymore, just looked down at where his boot was skimming the lake as the boy continued to study him. 

“Okay.. Just.. Just know that I care about you, and am here if you need it.” With that, he pulled himself up off the dock and began walking back into camp, leaving Max alone to watch over the water as the last rays of light glinted against the water’s surface.

‘Fuck.’

He cursed himself as several fat tears began to roll down his cheek. 

.........

‘Well that was dumb.’

He grumbled to himself as he made his way back to the tents, it was now completely dark out and he’d just further exhausted himself from crying by the lake. There was sounds of other campers around the area either getting ready for bed or cherishing their last few moments of free time before lights out but Max just made a direct beeline to his tent, collapsing onto his cot. 

He didn’t even bother changing his clothes as he shut his eyes and sleep consumed him.

______________________________

The campers were made to be in their tents by 8:00, though most didn’t fall asleep until well past 9:00. Gwen always retreated to the counselor’s cabin as soon as she could manage, utilizing what little alone time she could sneak in. Most nights, David stayed out by the tents with a headlamp and his clipboard until the last sleepy murmurs of the campers died down before heading to join his coworker.

Once all David heard were gentle snores and quiet ruffling coming from the tents, he decided to call it a day. He flipped the papers he had been reading on his board down to their resting position before tucking it under his arm and turning from his sentinel post. Heading up the gravel trail to his own cabin at a leisurely pace, he took in the darkened forest scenery that glowed in the pale moonlight.

“Howdy, Gwen!” The redhead chimed as he stepped into the warmly lit cabin and out of the starry night air. The woman grunted in reply from where she kneeled in front of the TV, setting up the DVD player with whatever show they’d be watching. 

David strode past her and into his room, shutting the old door behind him. He toed off his boots and walked over to sit on the bed, the box spring mattress dipping slightly under his weight. The slender man untied the yellow bandana around his neck and pulled off his shirt before subtly lifting his hips to slide his shorts down, leaving him in just his underwear. 

He flopped back against the worn sheets and stared up at the ceiling, letting the coolness of the room blanket his exposed freckly skin, goosebumps prickled up his arms.

‘Weird day..’

David heaved a sigh and rolled to his side, studying the landscape of creases in his pillowcase. He briefly imagined that he was a little ant living in one of those soft cotton valleys.

“Hey!” The man jumped at his co-counselor’s sharp voice sounding from the other room. 

“What is it?” 

“I made popcorn, hurry up and get your ass out here before I eat it all.”

“Coming!” He called back with a smile, roused out of his momentary daze, he stood up and and got dressed in a loose white shirt and sleeping shorts decorated with small pine trees before heading out to the living room.

“Teen Wolf?” David grimaced as he took his spot next to Gwen on the sofa, it was more of a plea than a question since the episode selection menu of season three was brightly displayed on the screen. 

“Teen Wolf.” She grinned back smugly, hitting play and shoving the popcorn bowl into his lap. 

..............

Around midnight, Gwen headed to bed, leaving David in the dark living room to watch Bob Ross for however long it took him to fall asleep. Tonight, he only had about forty five minutes before he was interrupted by a knock that was timid, but notably stronger than last night’s. He got up faster this time, knowing a little better what to expect, and walked to the door, opening it.

“Hello, Max.” He greeted the boy quietly, less tired tonight since it was about three hours earlier than the last visit. 

The grumpy camper just walked in, forcing David to twist his legs out of the way.

‘Well come right in, why don’t you!’

 

The man thought a bit incredulously as he shut the door behind the kid. When he turned around, Max was already sitting on the couch like he owned the place, causing the counselor to raise a brow. His behavior sure was a bit different, that was for sure, but he had brought his stuffed bear this time just like last and still shot nervous glances around the room. He just seemed more defensive and awake. 

“So this is what you do all night? Sit around and watching nature painting videos?” The boy on the sofa asked critically.

“Well.. not always! Sometimes I read or knit or write in my journal!” 

“Of course.” Max rolled his eyes, “What other stuff do you have on DVD?” 

The redhead pursed his lips and walked over to the TV stand, pulling a wicker basket off the bottom shelf. He briefly looked over its contents before placing it on the coffee table in front of the camper. It was filled with DVD’s and VHS tapes of different genre’s that the camper flipped through with varying degrees of interest before pulling something out. 

“Mister Roger’s fucking Neighborhood? Jesus, what are you, 3?” He shot a scrutinizing look at David before putting the tape back with the others.

“It makes me happy, he’s such a nice guy..” 

“Uh huh.” He continued to shuffle through the basket before seeing one that made him seemingly excited, holding it up.

“Oh my god, you have Evil Dead ll!?”

“Oh yeah, Gwen has a couple horror movies in there.” The man rubbed his neck, he’d never been keen on scary movies.

“We’re watching this.” The younger of the two promptly stated as he slid of the couch. 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea if you’re having nightmare?” He was asking for the both of them really. 

The boy just ignored him and made his way to the screen where Bob unsuspectingly droned on. He sat on the ground began poking at buttons with his small fingers, ejecting the VHS and putting it to the side. The older joined him after a moment with the basket Max had left on the table, sliding it back into its spot under the TV before going to his spot on the couch.

After he got the movie up and running the boy scrambled back to the sofa to join his counselor. 

“Blanket.” The kid demanded, making a grabby hand. David obliged, spreading the fleecy fabric over their laps, he was sure that the other didn’t realize it, but they were closer by a good few inches than they had been the night before. 

‘Stop thinking weird stuff like that.’

The redhead chewed his lip and focused on the movie displaying a blood soaked, chainsaw wielding Bruce Campbell, the scene caused him to grimace but the boy’s giddy wiggle next to him made it slightly more bearable. 

The following hour and a half followed a similar pattern with the older of them cringing and shying away from the gore and jump scares as the younger laughed and jeered at the characters. By the end of it, Max had sunk farther into the cushion and radiated tiredness. 

“I’m not scared of stuff like that.” The kid said casually, eyes still trained on the credits rolling across the screen. David looked down at him, and by his body language it didn’t seem like he was lying. He hesitated, wondering if he was supposed to respond.

“You said we shouldn’t watch it cause I have nightmares, but that’s not what I’m scared of.”

There was another pause between them as the man pensively chose his next words.

“.. Well what are you scared of?”

Max shifted uncomfortably at the question, bringing his feet up onto the couch as the last few names floated up the screen. The music came to an end, leaving them in silence and the blue glow of the waiting screen. The camper looked away from the TV and instead focused his intense gaze on a seam in the couch cushion.

“I’m tired.” 

It was an obvious subject change, but the counselor knew if he tried to pry too much he’d just push the other away. 

“Alright.” He picked up the remote and switched off the screen, plunging them into an uncomfortable darkness, “I’ll head to bed then-“

“Stay.” The younger’s voice was fast and sharp, bordering on urgent, it froze David in the middle of getting up. The next part was barely audible.

“Please..”

He didn’t say anything, just lowered himself back down onto the sofa. 

“Okay, Max..” His voice was soft and calming as he leaned back into the plush backing of the couch, he felt the boy settle into a comfortable sleeping position next to him. 

“I’ll stay.” 

_____________________________

Max’s eyes opened as the sun was first rising, David’s alarm wasn’t going off yet, but when he looked over at the man, it became obvious he wasn’t asleep either. In fact.. he seemed to be staring very intently at the boy, almost like he was trying to solve a puzzle. He sharply met his counselor’s gaze with his own, after a heavy minute he grew uncomfortable and broke the silence.

“What do you want, dipshit.” 

“Nothing!” His reply was fast and he seemed to flush as he quickly looked at the blanket in his lap to avoid the camper’s jagged glare, “.. Language..” 

Max rolled his eyes.

‘Fucking weirdo.’

The kid pulled himself into a sitting position and rubbed his eyes groggily, he could feel the older’s poorly concealed side glances at him.

“Coffee.” He commanded, not bothering to look up at the redhead as he stood and walked to the kitchen to fulfill his wish.

Max dropped his hands into his lap and tiredly stared at Mr.Honeynuts, splayed out next to him. 

“Can you turn on the weather?” 

“Sure.” The kid mumbled, snatching the remote from the side table and turning on the TV. He flipped through the incredibly limited selection of channels offered in the Sleepy Peaks region before settling on the weather broadcast. He leaned back and zoned out, hearing about wind fronts, patterns and whatever other shit. He watched the man in the tiny kitchen move and clink around for several minutes before a door opening disrupted the flow.

“Goooood morning, Gwen!” David’s chipper voice split through the sleepy air, and made both the newly emerged woman and the boy on the couch grit their teeth in annoyance. 

“Good morning, David!” She shot back, it was painfully obvious she was mocking him but he either didn’t notice or chose not to, as he just gave her a big, dumb smile in return. The co-counselor glared at her roomie before her eyes landed on the two-time guest in their living room. 

“You again?” 

“In the flesh.” Max smirked at her, the coffee maker beeped stopping her from saying anymore.

“Drinks are ready!” David beamed, pouring two mugs from the pitcher before making a tea for himself. 

The camper slid down from the sofa and shuffled behind Gwen into the kitchenette to get his drink. The woman opened the fridge and pulled out creamer, mixing it into her coffee as she walked over to a small wooden dining table, he grabbed his off the counter and took a sip before following. He clambered up onto one of the seats across from his female counselor, sitting in silence, they watched as David wiped down the counter. After the man was pleased with the cleanliness of the kitchen, he took his tea into his room and shut the door behind him. 

“So what’s the deal.”

“The deal?” Max was taken aback by the sudden inquiry, but the woman adjacent to him didn’t seem aggressive, just suspicious and maybe like she wanted some juicy gossip.

“Yeah, you’re a little shit, obviously you’re trying to get something by coming here, so what do you want?” 

The boy feigned thought for a minute, he kicked his legs where they dangled above the ground, figuring how he could mess with her.

“Hmmmmm, well you know.. since you asked and all... I do kinda want something edible to go with this coffee!” 

Gwen rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh at the kid’s blatant stubbornness.

“Breakfast is in like half an hour.”

“I did say edible, right?”

His counselor scowled, pushing her chair out and walking over to the kitchen cabinets, she ruffled through some boxes and pulled out a silver cellophane packet. She brought it back to the camper who was triumphantly smiling about his easy victory, and slid it across the table to him.

“You didn’t get it from me.” She said sternly before lifting her hand off the pack, “I don’t need every kid around the lake knocking down my door for fucking PopTarts.”

“Sure thing.” 

Max dismissed her, already ripping open the wrapping with his teeth and pulling one out, he swaddled the other one back up and stored it in his hoodie pocket for later. As Gwen took her seat again, she rested her chin in her hand and evilly smirked, watching him to eat.

“You know what I think?”

“Hm.”

“I think you see David as a father figure and like spending time with him.”

“Wh- What the fuck??” The boy gagged on his bite and immediately paled, “No fucking way! That’s SICK!!” 

He futilely shouted at her as she continued to wear her shit eating smile. 

“Mmhmm.”

“FUCK OFF, GWEN!!” 

He jumped down from his spot at the table and stormed out of the cabin, slamming the door behind him, his coffee left unfinished. 

‘David as my dad??? What fucking BULLSHIT!’

The boy stomped off the porch and towards the tents.

‘He’s so immature and annoying, what a fucking prick. Who does she think she is spewing shit like that??’

He angrily kicked at loose gravel under his shoe, forcing it to skid across the path and tried to ignore the embarrassed, hot blush spreading across his cheeks.

‘Fucking gross.’

_______________________________

“What was that?” David asked, coming out of his room after he heard angry shouting and the door slam. All he got in reply was his co-counselor shrugging as she sipped her coffee and averted his gaze. 

The man furrowed his brow and checked out the door window to see a raging Max stomping away. He determined following was not the best course of action at this time and instead went about gathering his supplies for the day. 

“Wilderness survival camp after breakfast!” The counselor smiled at his coworker who gave a sarcastic ‘woo’ in reply. He sat on the couch, slipping on his hiking boots and tying them tightly before standing and heading out with his clipboard to the activities shed. 

The summer morning air was crisp in contrast to the cabin that’d he’d been in and David took a deep, refreshing breath, looking over the scenery covered in soft, new light. He stood on the porch with his hands on his hips for a bit, gazing over the familiar and comforting view. 

After a good minute, he stepped off the porch and walked the short distance to the small storage building with all the supplies they’d need for camp. He swung open the large door and went inside the musty shed, floorboards creaking under his feet. Quietly muttering plans for the day, he pulled down a few boxes from the shelves lining the walls and ticked their contents off the list on his clipboard. 

‘Max.’

His hand stuttered at the sudden intrusive thought of the boy, causing the pen to scribble a small black line on his paper. Confused by the seemingly unprovoked digression, he tried to go back to melodically getting ready for the day.

‘Max. Max. Max.’

The name intruding his mind was accompanied by images of the camper’s face, his fuzzy hair and small body, his small body sleeping next to David’s. 

‘Max. Being with Max. Soft Max.’ 

The man shook his head trying to clear it of the unwelcome visitor. He thought rapidly, coming to the conclusion that he was just thinking about him so much because he’d spent more time with him the past two nights. It was natural. 

‘Pervert.’

“NO!” The counselor’s face blanched as accidentally cried aloud, instantly slapping a hand over his mouth and looking at the slightly ajar door, making sure no one had heard his outburst. Save from the gentle morning bird song, there was only silence outside, he dropped the hand from his mouth. He quickly gathered up the two bins he’d stored the needed supplies in before exiting the room in panic, shutting the door hard behind him.

‘It’s not like that all, that’s horrible and sick and I would never ever even think about a camper like that.’

He repeatedly tried to comfort and justify himself as he hurried away from the shed, cursing the place in his mind. 

...........

“Fuck you, I’m not going.” The camper planted his feet and stubbornly crosses his arms.

“Max, please, we need everyone to participate! If you won’t do it for me, then do it for Nikki, she’d love for you guys to enjoy wilderness camp together!” David plead with the stubborn child, all the others had their backpacks on and were grouped up, ready to set out into the forest.

“No offense Nikki, but no fucking way.”

“None taken!” The girl chimed I’m from where she stood at the edge of the woods, practically bouncing with excitement. The man sighed, she obviously didn’t tend on helping his case any. 

“It could be fun if you just try!”

“Yeah, I don’t know what your idea of fun is, but jerking off in the woods and being eaten by bears isn’t mine.”

“Max!!” He huffed, “Fine. If you won’t come with me, you can stay with the Quarter Master and clean the mess hall and kitchen.” 

The haughty boy clicked his tongue in disdain, looking over to where the Quarter Master was hunched several feet away by the cafeteria entrance. Their eyes met and a strange look came over Max’s face briefly before he squinted and moved his glare to burn through his counselor. 

“Fine, I’ll come with you and Gwen, mostly just cause I don’t want to see anything scarring. But don’t expect me to be all happy go lucky ‘I fuck trees’ and shit.” 

“Thank you Max.. and language!” He strode to the front of the group, “Alright Nikki, you and I will be up here and, Gwen, you’ll take the back!”

The hike was to a small clearing about a mile into the woods where they could practice fire starting, impromptu first aid, and shelter building. The young adventure-driven girl lead the pack of campers, getting called back by David whenever she got too far ahead of them, he loved her enthusiasm for nature and exploration and whenever she stuck around him long enough, he’d try to talk to her about the wildlife. 

“Do you like Mountain Lions, Nikki?” That seemed to catch her attention.

“Oh man, do I!!” She bounced around his legs excitedly, making claw gestures with her hands.

“Well, did you know they’re found in 21 of 23 countries in the Americas and can have territories up to a hundred square miles!”

“Woah! That’s a lot! I’m gonna collect an army of ‘em and ride one into battle!!” 

“Well you better hold on tight, cause they can run almost 50 miles an hour!” 

“Badass!!!” The blue haired camper sprinted ahead a few meters and back, jumping at her counselor and latching onto his leg, “I’m a Mountain Lion!”

“You very well might be, they do have a tendency to go after prey significantly larger than themselves.” He winced as Nikki bit down on his shin.

“You sure know a lot about Mountain Lions!” She let go and awed up at the man.

“I know a lot about all the animals that live around here! They’re part of the forest and they’re my passion!” He beamed, taking pride that the camper was impressed with and enjoying his knowledge. 

“You’re still pretty lame, but you do know some cool stuff.” 

She scampered away up the trail again to sniff at bugs, leaving David to walk alone once more, he was slightly more upbeat after getting the compliment. He pulled his water bottle out of his backpack and turned to look at the rest of the group behind him as he drank. 

Every kid he looked over had a normal amount of contempt in their eyes from being forced to shuffle through the woods.. except Max. The boy at the tail of the cluster was burning holes through the man with his glare and had a nearly visible haze of anger permeating the air around him. 

David uneasily screwed the cap back on his bottle and turned back to the trail, hastily picking up his speed. He didn’t dare to provoke the boy who looked ready to explode at any given second.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAA I’ve been absolutely blessed with some fanart by @kittehcups for this chapter and I couldn’t be more grateful! Absolutely made my entire month!  
> Thank you so much Kitteh!!! You’re the best!!
> 
> https://kittehcups.tumblr.com/post/176941835521/good-pure-scene-from-the-fanfic-handle-with-care
> 
> Please check out her tumblr if you haven’t already!!
> 
> Playlist for fic: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZXN3XKOeaDhpE-7Xm-beuZ7whmtCr9ma


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max has some friend issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to update the tags for this one, there is a bit of nsfw material so please be mindful X)
> 
> Also we see one of Max’s nightmares for the first time.
> 
> The past week or so has been a little weird so I apologize if that translates into the writing. Would love some feedback, thanks for everyone who’s been reading!

“Hey, Max.” 

Neil fell into step beside the boy at the back of the group, they had just finished the morning activity and were setting off on their before-lunch hike, it was usually only about two miles long and since they were already out in the woods, they would just take the long way back to camp. The campers were pretty evenly distributed, huffing and speaking with their friends in relative privacy while they trampled along.

“Hi, Neil.” He hitched up his backpack, replying without looking at his companion who twittled his fingers nervously as he obviously stewed on something.

“Nice day, huh?”

“God, get to the point.” 

“Fine!” His tone became more strained, “Why have you had such a stick up your ass lately??”

Max’s step faltered slightly at the small outburst and he peered up at his friend. Neil looked... concerned and frustrated.. like he really cared about Max and what was wrong with him. 

‘He doesn’t’

He looked back at the ground and away from the other camper’s face. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, poindexter.”

“Bullshit, Max! You know damn well that ever since I moved out of your tent and into Nikki’s you’ve been all mopey and pissy! I mean, Jesus, if it means that much to you, I can move back in!? It’s been less then a week! We’re still friends with you, you know!”

The indignant kid threw his arms up during his rant and raised his voice, causing the other to panickedly hiss at him to keep his voice down. 

“It’s not about that at all, Christ, Neil, I’m not a petty fucking child!” 

“Then what IS it about?” 

“I..” 

Max opened his mouth and then closed it again, looking at the trees in the opposite direction of the gawky boy next to him. His face was heating up and he gripped his backpack straps tightly, not wanting to draw attention to himself as Neil intently bore his eyes into him.

“It.. it doesn’t even have to do with camp. There’s just shit coming up and it’s making things weird, okay?”

This seemed to quiet his partner for a moment as he thought about what was said. 

“So like... home stuff?”

The camper just shot a caustic glare in reply, his eyes ferocious and shiny with threatening tears.

“Shit..” He grimaced, “I’m sorry, Max..” 

The awkward boy shuffled his feet along the rocky path with his face screwed up in a tight expression as he processed what to say next.

“You know that me and Nikki care about you.. a lot.. and we’re here for you.” 

“Fuck off..”

Max lashed, not wanting Neil to see as his lip trembled, all these people were offering support but, it wasn’t making him feel any better.. he felt unworthy.. like they weren’t telling the truth. He bit the inside of his cheek as the urge to cry became more and more intense. 

‘So fucking stupid! Stupid baby! You just push people away and hurt them, how could anyone care about you? No one wants to see tha-‘

Wait.. 

What? 

He felt thin arms wrapped around him and a small warm body pressed against the front of his own.

“.. Neil..?” 

He came back to the present, where his friend was currently embracing him gently. Not really knowing what to do, he stood there embarrassedly until he was released and the taller of the two boys stepped back, looking just as uncomfortable and unsure of himself.

“It’s um.. I know things are weird and hard and fucked up but.. it’ll be okay, Max.. things will work out.” He rubbed his arm nervously and flashed a smiled.

“.. Thank you.” Max murmured, genuinely grateful for the act of affection, before looking up at his counterpart with a devious expression, “Gay wad.” 

“Fuck you, asshole!” 

The boys grinned, shoving each other playfully and laughing as they started up their pace again. 

“Better catch up with the rest of the camp before they think you were back here k-i-s-s-i-n-g me or something.”

.........

“Do you wanna see the toad I caught!?” 

Nikki beamed with pride, forcing the amphibian at anyone who gave so much as a side glance. The kids had just gotten back to camp and had a few minutes before they were allowed into the mess hall for lunch. Max and Neil peered curiously at the warty little creature that their friend gripped tightly with both her small hands. 

“His name’s Bumpy Jumpy! BJ for short!”

“Don’t you think you’re squeezing it a little tight?” The tallest of the three inquired in his cautious tone as his companion held back a laugh. 

“No, I think she should squeeze him tighter.” The other boy maliciously grinned as he poked his finger onto the toad’s head without much care for its comfort, it blinked and squirmed in it’s captors grip. 

“He’s fine!” She nodded and reassured, looking at her prisoner with adoration, “What should we do with him?” 

The three trouble-makers pondered in silence for a minute, studying the small creature intently and trying to hatch a quick scheme. 

“We could sneak him into the lunchroom and put him on someone’s tray?” Neil suggested thoughtfully.

“Now you’re putting that big brain to some good use!”

Max simpered, strolling ahead of the other two, who meandered behind, still enveloped by and gawking at the toad. He led them to the back door of the cafeteria, it had direct access to the kitchen and would be open since the Quarter Master had just been using it. The old man always set up the pots on the stove to heat up whatever was on the menu for that particular meal, usually something including his famous ‘mashed potatoes’, then left to do what old creepy men do until it was time to dish it out.

The leader of the friends swung the door open and gestured them in, watching to make sure neither of the counselors spotted them. He shuffled in once he was sure the coast was clear, passed the pantry and around the corner to the main cooking space where his friends already stood, waiting.

“So how are we gonna do this, who’s the target?” 

The gawky boy inquired, looking around the slightly dingy room.

“Yeah, I don’t want BJ to get hurt!”

“Hmmmm.” Max thought for a moment with his finger pressed against his cheek, “Well we can’t just put him on a tray, that’s way too obvious.. We could put him in the potatoes?”

All three kids turned their eyes to the tall stock pot bubbling on the burner, the girl protectively tightened her grip on the amphibian, causing it to struggle again. 

“I dunno, Max.. won’t it be too hot?” 

The boy rolled his eyes in return, walking over to a chair in the corner of the room and dragging it over to the stove. 

“It hasn’t killed us yet, I’m sure it won’t hurt that thing either.” He snarked as he climbed up onto the chair, “Now quit being a couple of pussies and come here.”

Neil had a general air of uneasiness but didn’t intervene, instead he just took his spot next to his friend on the wooden chair, Nikki took a bit longer, chewing her lip before hesitantly handing over the fragile animal and pulling herself onto the countertop. Max roughly handled the gross, bumpy creature, holding it in one hand as he covered his other with his sleeve and used it to remove the hot metal lid of the pot, setting it aside quickly. Steam billowed up and they peered down into the boiling viscous goo, too watery to really be considered potatoes by any means.

“Max-“ 

The girl started to panic, grabbing at the boy’s arm, trying to get to the toad, he just squeezed the animal tighter and held it above his head, making it kick and let out distressed chirps.

“Max, let him go!!!”

He tried to push her away and held the amphibian over the scalding liquid.

“It won’t even feel it Nikki, it’s a stupid fucking frog, grow UP!”

“HE’S A TOAD, AND YOU’RE HURTING HIM!!” 

She screamed, now desperately clawing and trying to get it back as brimming tears threatened at her eyes. 

“Max, just fucking let it go, Jesus, this isn’t that important!!” 

Neil snapped, grabbing the other camper’s wrist, trying to jerk it away from where it was held over the stove. The sudden movement loosened his grip on the squirming toad and a moment of sheer dread washed over him as the creature, using what it saw as its chance at freedom, kicked itself free.

They all watched, frozen, as it fell into the boiling sludge, sinking halfway, unable to escape as it jerked and squeaked distraughtly at the sensation of being cooked alive. After what felt like an eternity of the animal’s agonized writhing and strangled noises, the tallest of three shakily picked up the lid and blocked the gruesome scene from view. The heavy silence suffocated them in contrast to the chaotic bickering that had filled the room just seconds before and the clank of the metal as Neil sealed the pot sounded unnatural and rang in their ears. 

Nikki turned her wide eyes to Max, fat tears falling down her cheeks, unable to form the angry and hurt words she wanted to, she just let out a cry of anguish before throwing her self off the counter and running out of the kitchen, openly sobbing. 

The small boy turned his back to the countertop and sat down on the chair with a blank look on his face. His friend loomed above him, staring at where the girl had just run out of the room. 

“It was a mistak-“

“Why couldn’t you let it be?? ..I want to be there for you and feel sympathy for you, Max, I really do. But you do shit like this. You ruin good things and don’t care about other people, only yourself.” 

He looked down coldly at the unresponsive camper.

“You’re fucked up. And I wouldn’t have cared, honestly, if you had just killed it, but you hurt Nikki in the process, and that’s not fucking okay.. I don’t know if I can help you.”

He slipped down from the chair and walked out, going find their upset companion. Max stayed hunched in the dead air of the kitchen, thinking about the now silent toad’s carcass, bubbling around in it’s metal casket and his friend’s look of pain. 

‘I’m a selfish, shitty person. I’m horrible and hurt people, just like my dad. I’m no better.’ 

He cried in his loneliness, for the small dead body next to him and for himself. 

‘I deserve nothing.’

______________________________

“Lunchtime!”

David beamed, herding campers into the mess hall with the help of Gwen. The kids shuffled in and began to line up by the serving window where Quarter Master waited, ladle in hand- er, as hand. The old man seemed to stare into the potatoes for a moment longer than usual before giving a grunt and slopping a serving onto the first kid’s plate.

The gawky man stood by the door, being served last as a counselor gave him time to do a head count of all the campers. 

‘Nerris, Erid, Dolph..’

He chewed the inside of his cheek with growing anxiety, he decided to count again, already knowing the result. Seven. 

‘Oh no.’

He turned to his coworker with a nervous expression.

“Hey Gweenn, you haven’t seen Neil, Max, or Nikki by any chance?” 

He tugged at the bandana around his neck as the woman’s expression dropped frustratedly.

“Dear god- no, I haven’t.”

“Okay.. I should probably find them before the camp burns down then.. Can you manage in here?” 

She brushed him off with a wave of her hand before sauntering off towards the line of kids. David sighed, running a hand through his hair as he turned to exit the building. 

‘Great.’

He decided the best course of action would be to check the tents first, and if they weren’t there, he’d go around the perimeter. Neil and Nikki’s tent was one of the first in the cluster, as part of the agreement for letting them bunk together, meaning it was the first for him to check. 

The counselor started down the short path from the cafeteria to the tents, praying he wouldn’t find anything broken or destroyed in the process. He tromped up to the front of the tent and announced his presence by clearing his throat.

“Hey, you guys in there? 

He moved the door flap out of the way and peered inside.

“Oh hey you two!” 

He smiled at the kids sitting on a cot, close together before noticing the the heavy air of the room and that the girl looked like.. she’d been crying?

“Everything.. okay in here?”

“Yeah David.. We’re fine.” 

Nikki sniffed, not looking at the man in the opening who just kept looking between the two campers. 

“Did you need something?” 

The boy glared up at the intruder, making him wince slightly.

“Oh uh, yeah! Could you guys head to the lunchroom?” 

The friends shared an uncomfortable glance and the blue haired girl seemed to tear up at the mention of the place. She shifted uncomfortably and looked at the ground.

“I’d rather not right now..”

The counselor sighed and bit at his lip.

“I’m not really supposed to leave you guys unsupervised.. You don’t have to eat anything, but could you at least go hang out in front of the mess hall so we can see where you are?”

The taller of them nodded and slid of the cot, David moved out of the entrance, holding open the flap as the two walked out and towards the cafeteria. The man looked into the tent once more before letting the fabric drop, his anxiety suddenly rekindling, he called after the two kids.

“Do you guys know where, Max is?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.”

Neil snarled without bothering to look back at his counselor who stood slightly dumbfounded at the response. 

‘Well.. two down one to go.’

He watched them walk away, shrugging off his uneasiness and continuing down the trail towards the other camper’s tent, it wasn’t too far from where he was. He messed with his fingers as he drew towards his next stop, slowing his pace until he was halted outside.

“Max?”

There was no verbal response, but he did hear a ruffle from behind the cloth, he bent down a bit and lifted it out of the way. The small boy was sitting on his bed with his knees tucked against his chest and his head down. 

“You’re not at lunch?”

“Not hungry..” He mumbled through his arms. 

“Everything alright?”

Asking the question felt silly, obviously there was an issue, it was more of a custom than a genuine question at this point. No reply. He waited for a minute in silence, deciding how to handle the situation. He stepped inside the cramped, stuffy tent, slightly hunched to fit, he let the flap close behind him and he took a seat on the empty old cot across from the kid.

“Did something happen with Nikki and Neil..?”

It wasn’t that crazy of a conclusion to draw with how they were all acting. He saw the camper move uncomfortably at the question but continue to ignore his presence. The man reached out a hand to comfort the boy then retracted it. 

“It’ll be okay, Max.. things will w-“

“Don’t fucking SAY that!!”

The harshness and pain in his voice made David grimace and recoil slightly, he could see the younger’s small frame shake with the effort of restraining sobs. 

“That’s such bullshit! Things don’t get ‘better’ for people like me. I’m bad, I fuck up every good thing!!” 

Max lifted his head and cried openly, screwing his face in anger as he took in the sight of his bewildered counselor. 

“Max..”

“You don’t get it, David, I’m toxic. I learned it and it’s all I can be.” 

The man’s face grew into an expression of deep understanding and sorrow, he didn’t know what happened but it had to have been bad for this sort of reaction. The kid hid his face in his arms again and wept softly.

“I k-killed it. I killed her stupid toad because I, I couldn’t, I wouldn’t just let it go. And now she hates me and Neil does because she does!” 

The redhead puffed out his cheeks and slowly exhaled. 

That was pretty bad.. 

He’d never dealt with a kid that had issues like Max before, and didn’t know how to fix this for either of them. He picked at the seam in his shorts. 

“I’m not gonna lie to you, Max.. I don’t think that was the right decision to make.” The kid scoffed at his statement, but he continued, “You’ll have to make up for it and not do anything like it again in the future but.. it doesn’t make you a bad person.”

“Yeah, sure, no bad people. Right. Only ‘good people’ who make ‘bad decisions’.” He glared up at the counselor through his mussed bangs, “What about murderers and child rapists, David?”

“Obviously some decisions are worse than others.”

“They all start somewhere.” 

The lanky man looked away and scowled at his worn boots as the dusty air settled hotly in the bottom of his lungs. They were quiet for a heavy minute, the older wanting to say something but unsure what and the younger, knowing what to say but not how. 

“It’s okay to make mistakes, we just have to learn from them.”

Max looked to the entrance of the tent with an unreadable expression. 

“I hate that.”

His counselor gave a puzzled look.

“It takes away the criminalization and guilt, and devalues the victim, makes it seem like a growth experience for some asshole and not a shitty trauma for an innocent person.. it’s not fair.”

He looked at the adult.

“That should only be a saying when the negative outcome is solely self inflicted, and doesn’t harm anyone else.”

“But Max, you’re a kid, kids do stupid things sometimes, it’s when you can learn not to do things like it again.”

The boy just went quiet and glanced away, looking like he was having a hard time comprehending his own age. 

This was definitely more stressful and a worse scenario than the three friends being together and suddenly David wished he’d just found them scheming or up to normal shenanigans. He watched the vulnerable camper pull his knees in tighter to himself, he wished he could help him and just make everything better. 

“Things happen when you’re young and sometimes they suck.. sometimes friends get mad at each other, but I promise you that Neil and Nikki will forgive you and you can be together again and be stronger because of it, even if it doesn’t feel that way right now.”

The counselor gave a comforting smile to the struggling kid, who seemed doubtful of his words.

“And if they don’t?”

“Then I’ll be your friend.”

He looked at Max with a gaze radiating soft love, causing the boy to blush a small amount and hide his face again. 

“That’s stupid, David.”

“I know.”

______________________________

Max laid on his back in the muggy tent after having somehow, successfully convinced David to let him be alone. The inside of his face felt raw and metallic from crying and his whole stature was limp from the stress of the past few days. He needed time to process, he felt like he couldn’t keep up with anything, and he really didn’t want to have to face his friends at the moment. 

‘Fucking stupid.. horrible.. inconvenience.. bad..’

His thoughts were less than coherent as he clenched and relaxed his fists repeatedly. 

‘Stupid..hh.. David..’ 

The sun beating down on the canvas shelter made for a dim, hazy heat, that surrounded him and emphasized his drowsiness. 

‘David..’

Calmed by the thought of his counselor, and too exhausted to care, he let go of consciousness, falling into a feverish afternoon sleep. 

...........

‘Come here, boy.’

He was in a hallway. His house. His house but everything was a cadet blue haze, like it was twenty feet under a lake. 

He could feel the undercurrent swaying his body and making his head swim. 

‘Now.’

Max turned his fishbowl eyes to the man sitting in his living room, who was eating something that looked my chips from a bag. 

‘Da..hh..’

He tried to name him before realizing he couldn’t discern a face from the shifting jerky form, but it looked sickeningly familiar to two specific people. He didn’t want to think about it too hard, or more accurately, couldn’t. 

The boy’s feet lifted off the ground and he drifted over to the armchair where the daunting figure waited, the room wavering and glitching between home and... a building made of wood?

‘Sit.’

The man patted his leg, the child cringed but was unable to stop himself from floating up and taking the spot on his lap.

‘N.. no..’

Max protested weakly, his words sounding alien and coming out of his mouth delayed. He looked up at the face above him, watching it shovel another handful of food into its mouth. But now he saw it wasn’t chips or anything of the like, it was small mangled toad corpses. Their bodies were stiff and their miniature viscera leaked onto the man’s large fingers between bites. 

Nausea gripped the kid and he felt lightheaded, a gnarled hand wrapped around his waist, it’s fingers inhumanly long. He tried to scratch and claw at the hand imprisoning him but it translates into more of a weak caress.

‘Lett.. goh.. hh Da.dv.. p.please!’

Speech slurred and he started to cry at his weakness and how vulnerable and gross this was. 

‘You’re my boy, Max.’

The smell of decay wafted from the man’s foul mouth as it came closer and closer to the boy’s face. No no no no no NO! He tried so hard to squirm and kick and get himself free, he had to get out!! 

Lips brushed his skin and sloppily forced them self across his skin, smearing the stench of saliva and vomit. 

‘N..gh. O!!’

He choked, there were still little fleshy tendrils from the devoured bodies that he could feel being spread across his face with each putrid kiss. A rough stubble on the man’s chin scratched and burned him. The fingers around his body began to constrict as one of them began to worm itself into his pants. 

‘NhO!!!’

The kid screamed and jerked, not even making a difference to his captor with his struggle. The nails on the gruff hand scratched at the fragile skin between his hips as they dragged closer and closer to his soft penis. The sensation was engulfing him and making the distorted world spin.

‘I’m going to make you cum, Max.’

\- - 

“NO!!!!” 

The camper jolted up in his cot, stomach churning dangerously as he gagged and heaved, crying heavily. 

“F-fUCK!” 

He stuttered, sweat sticking his bangs to his forehead as he looked around with confused terror, not registering where he was. 

If he had been aware enough, he would realize it was early evening and the sun was just beginning to set, would have heard his friends being loudly scolded by David in the activities field, and felt the warm draft of air breeze through the tent. Maybe he could have gotten up, genuinely apologized for his actions, and joined his friends in causing ruckus and being lectured by their counselor.

Instead he hyperventilated, scared and alone in an unfamiliar, hot and musty tent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, this happened because of a dream I had. 
> 
> Also a big thanks to FelineJaye and Kialish for writing Living With Max, one of my all time favorite fics, it inspired me to write my own!! 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I would love constructive critiscism as well as positive feedback if you have any! 
> 
> Hate comments will be deleted, but thanks for giving me another hit by coming haha!
> 
> Playlist for fic: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZXN3XKOeaDhpE-7Xm-beuZ7whmtCr9ma


	4. Chapter 4

David stretched his arms above his head, slightly pulling up his shirt from where it was tucked into his shorts. The sun was no longer visible on the horizon but the sky still glowed, soft gray illuminating from the cloud coverage, the air smelled humid. 

Since the counselor’s cabin only had a half bathroom, meaning no shower, the adults had to use the communal restroom for bathing. To avoid any issues, and have things go smoothly, there was a schedule for which days the campers got to shower and at what times. After the kids went to bed, or before they woke up, the counselors could take care of their needs, Gwen and David alternated, each taking every other night. 

Yesterday had been his co-counselor’s day having the shower, so tonight he decided would be his. He crunched down the path, the bathroom was just past the tents which meant he could make a final round to make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be. 

He never liked shining a flashlight into the tents because he thought it was too bright and might wake up some of the lighter sleepers, so instead he opted for a dimmed lantern which he held up to every flap he peeked in. He inspected on at a time, getting silence or soft groans of annoyance from the kids as he made his way down the line, everything seemed to be in order. He opened the next one.

“.. Max?” The boy was sitting in the dark, not really doing anything, nor responding, “Whatcha up to, buddy?” 

“Ugh, buddy?”

He dragged his pointed gaze to the man standing in the entrance, who smiled in return. 

“I see you’re still in your day time clothes?”

The counselor hadn’t bothered Max since he had made it clear at lunch that he wanted time to think and recuperate, and when he had checked on him around dinner time, the kid had been napping. 

“How observant.” The camper looked down at his clothes.

“A skill I picked up from bird watching!”

“Of course it is.” The boy dragged his small hands down his face, clearly annoyed, “My shower was supposed to be earlier. I obviously missed it cause I’m dirty as all fuck. So can I take it now?”

‘Naked Max.’

“Um..” David fidgeted, “Can’t you take one tomorrow morning?”

“Yeah fucking right, like I’m gonna sleep when I’m all sweaty and gross.” He snapped, agitatedly studying the man hesitating in front of him.

‘Naked, wet Max.’

“Okay.. but I’m gonna be in there showering too, is that alright with you, Max?” He smiled stiffly, hoping that would be enough to deter him, the kid just made an incredulous face.

“Yeah, and??” 

He hopped down from his cot gracelessly, grabbing a towel and pair of pajamas from out the top of his bag. Shuffling towards the exit, he easily pushed past his lanky counselor.

“There’s more than one stall David, you realize that I’ve had to shower with like two other people in the room, this entire summer, right? It’s not like we’ll be staring each other down butt ass naked??”

“Yes, I know, I just meant cause, y’know, I’m an adult and all, I didn’t know if that was something that would make you uncomfortable or-“ David babbled on nervously as the camper started walking down the trail towards the bathrooms.

“Jeez, Camp Man, you sure you should be a counselor if your this wigged out by little kid dicks?”

“MAX!!” The adult yipped, turning to catch up with the younger, who was already a few yards ahead, “First of all, language! Second of all.. I sincerely hope you don’t think I’d ever think anything like that about any camper. Especially not you!”

‘Liar.’

“Why not?”

“WH- excuse me??”

“Why ‘especially not me’?”

The man practically tripped over himself, he had no idea what to say, he was completely taken aback by the child’s apparent offense after being told he didn’t want to MOLEST him. 

“Max.. you know that you know that.. being touched is uh.. bad, right?”

“JesusFuckingChrist- YES DAVID, I know being touched is BAD!! That’s not what I meant, you absolute dimwit, I meant like, why out of all the camper’s am I like...” He looked away, shoving his hands in his pockets and huffing, “The most special, or whatever.”

His counselor gave a sigh of relief.

“Ooh okay. That makes more sense.” He laughed lightly, “Well I guess I like see myself in you-“

“Wording.” 

“Gh- hh. Like I was saying.. I see- ... I like to think I can relate to you from when I was younger, but.. you’re a better version of anything I ever was.. You have really good friends, even if they’re a little upset at you right now, they still really care about you and you’re a good friend to them too, whether you believe it or not.”

He looked down at the kid, he didn’t look back at him but even in the low light, the older could see a soft blush prickling along the other’s scowling face.

“And you’re really funny, even if most of your jokes are at my expense, you probably get your humor from your wit, you’re a ridiculously smart kid, Max, and you can harness it in some really great ways!”

“Shut up..”

“But my favorite thing about you is probably when you’re open and vulnerable with me, because I feel like there’s a whole other, tender side to you that you keep so guarded, it’s truly special when you get to experience it. You’re really something special, Ma-“

“I said shut up. We’re here.”

“Oh.”

They stood outside the bathroom, bathed in a quiet orange glow from the lamp on the outside wall. It was a gathering point for Miller moths, attracted to the shine, they fluttered above and between the two, David looked up at the ethereal, fluttering insects, having had forgotten to actually pay attention to the trail or his surroundings while he had been talking about Max. 

He closed his eyes and breathed in before returning his gaze to the young boy staring up at him. He wore an expression the redhead didn’t have time to decipher before his small face turned away. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then shut it again, visibly recalculating his thoughts for a second before seeming to settle on a snarky comment.

“Come on, Camp Man, I’m not getting any cleaner out here.”

..........

David leaned his forehead against the cold linoleum of the shower stall, letting the lukewarm water run down his back. An uncomfortable acidic feeling was settling in his tummy and it started to cut the ties tethering him to reality. 

‘Guilt.’

But why? What was he doing wrong? Water dribbled down his face, cascading off his nose and chin as he stared ahead blankly. 

His pupils felt giant, like they were black holes turning his eyes out from the inside. Not painful just.. overwhelming. 

His body wasn’t his own. Or at least.. it felt like it wasn’t. He looked down to make sure he was still the right person but he just felt alien and distant, disgusted by the pale, naked form that confronted him.

“David.” The voice was sharp and he nearly jumped. 

“Huh! What?” 

“My shampoo’s empty, can I borrow yours?” 

“Uh,” The counselor looked down to the bottles on the floor, “sure.”

He bent, grabbing the right container and sticking it out the side of the curtain. There was about a foot of tiled wall between them, he waited for the boy to take the bottle.

“.. Uh, a little lower?”

“Oh.” He laughed, adjusting the height at which he was holding the shampoo, “Here!”

The small hand snatched at the offering, accidentally overlapping his fingers with David’s, the man recoiled his hand in surprise at the warm, wet touch. The sudden retraction of support caused Max to fumble with the slippery container for a second before it clattered to the floor. 

“Ugh, nice one, asshole.”

“I’m sorry!” He recompose himself, “Here, let me get it for y-“

The counselor froze mid-sentence, he had meant to grab the bottle for the boy to be polite, but was now stiffly half-leaning out from behind the shower curtain, petrified. 

Max had already started reaching for it himself. 

‘Oh no.’

The kid was stretched to cover the distance to his desired object with one hand on the ground to stabilize his slim body. 

The redhead’s view of the waist and down was obstructed by the wall, but he could still see the dimple right at the base of the camper’s back, could see the way his shoulder blades rippled under the soft dusky skin as he tried to get to the bottle. The glistening water droplets along his entire torso that slid his sides and dripped off his chest. The soaked curls that rested and framed his face. 

The intense, emerald eyes that stared back at him. They held eye contact for several seconds.

‘Oh NO.’

Suddenly coming to his senses, the adult’s expression turned to one of terror as he frantically whipped backwards and closed the fabric divider between them. He stumbled away until his back was pressed against the furthest wall of the shower, really only putting a few feet between them. 

“I’m sorry, Max! I didn’t mean to intrude like that!!” His shoulders hunched and tensed.

“It’s fine-”

‘NOT fine! You scared him, you’re a creep! He doesn’t trust you now! You’re bad bad bad!! He’ll never want to be around you again!’

“It’s not like you haven’t seen me shirtless and wet before, it’s no different then swim camp. Only weird if you make it weird.” The boy sounded overly nonchalant.

“Haha, right!”

David grimaced and sank to the floor, slipping a finger into his mouth to chew at the nail as he fell into a silent panic. 

‘You made it weird.’

______________________________

Max shut the water off, it was starting to run cold because of the shitty heater and he was about as clean as it was gonna get here. He sloppily shook out his hair before grabbing the towel that hung just outside the curtain. The boy vigorously rubbed the cloth back and forth over his head, and between his thick, water-retaining curls and the cheap budget spent on any camp-supplied materials, the cloth was thoroughly soaked. 

He scowled and tried to dry off the rest of his body, settling with a quick pat down that left him slightly less damp then before. 

“You need to get better towels before one of us grows like, black mold or something.”

There was no reply.

“Cause like, they can’t get all the water off cause the towels are too thin?” He listened for a second to the sound of David’s ongoing shower echo through the bathroom, “Whatever.”

‘He’s ignoring you.’

The camper rolled his eyes and wrapped the soggy towel around his waist before gathering up his shampoo and bodywash off the tiled floor. He walked out of the shower area and to the ‘Hygiene Closet’ by the sinks, where the residents had to keep any scented cleansers, lest the bears, mice, and raccoons get into their tents at night to eat the good-smelling supplies. His bodywash fit nicely in the bin labeled ‘Max’ but the other bottle, which was technically David’s, didn’t have enough room. 

“Should I put your shampoo in here with all your other shit?”

Silence.

Wait. Maybe a huff?

‘He doesn’t want to talk to you, you’ve fucked up.’

The kid scrunched his face and grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste before haphazardly shoving the shampoo container on top of the rest of his supplies. He returned the plastic tub back to the shelf it belonged on, no answer meant he could keep it.

‘But what did I do?? Just fifteen minutes ago he couldn’t shut up about how great I was!’

The boy marched over to the sinks and looked in the mirror.

‘You realize that right before he did, you asked him a really weird question, right? Like what was he supposed to do? Not answer? He’s fake nice because he’s a scared little man that wants people to like him. He doesn’t actually think you’re good at all, he’s just too cowardly to tell the truth.’

Max turned on the sink and squeezed out a glob of minty white paste onto his toothbrush.

‘And the way he’s been looking at me.. he looks scared.. like he can’t stand me.’

He clenched the plastic brush and snarled at himself in the mirror, carelessly moving the bristles around his mouth. 

‘He hates you. You’re disgusting. He knows how vile you are.’

Max’s vision started to blur.

‘Are you really going to cry over camp man? Pathetic.’

The camper spit in the sink, watching it the froth twirl down the drain before he looked up at his figure in the mirror.

‘That’s right.’

His eyes flicked back and forth, looking at their left and then right reflection. Scrutiny filled his glare as he took in the sight of a fragile half naked child in front of him, it wasn’t him. That was someone young and naive, ignorant to how shitty the world actually was, and he was trapped inside them. Their stupid, little, incompetent body. 

“I hate you.” He whispered barely above a whisper, sharp and bitter.

The sound of the counselor shutting of his shower echoed around the room, drawing Max’s attention away from himself. He pushed away from the counter and shuffled over to the closet to throw his toothpaste and brush back into his bin. He sighed and moved across the room back to the sectional he had been using to shower, gathering up the pajamas he’d brought with him and taking them into a toilet stall to change in relative privacy, now that David would be moving about he couldn’t just drop his towel in the open.

The boy closed the lid of the toilet, setting his clothes on top to keep dry before letting the cloth around his waist drop to the floor. He avoided looking down at his body, not necessarily enjoying its appearance or the thoughts it conjured up. He picked up his shirt.

‘Ugh.’

Putting dry clothes on wet skin was the WORST, it felt so suffocating and sticky, same with clothes on freshly sun-screened skin, which also happened a lot at this god forsaken camp with all it’s ‘outdoor activities’. He grimaced and pulled the shirt over his head, wiggling uncomfortably until it fit onto his torso then shook out his hair a bit more so it wouldn’t drip on the fabric so much. 

‘UUGH.’

And it was so much worse with soft sleeping fabric, he might as well have rolled in glue before getting dressed. He held his arms away from his body as he slid his pants on, one unhappy leg at a time. 

The boy picked up his towel from the ground and turned, unlocking the stall door and letting it drift open, he stood with his limbs awkwardly positioned to cause the least contact with himself.

David was standing at the edge of the row of sinks, looking vacantly at the floor, spaced out.

“I see you’re still in your day time clothes!” 

Max sarcastically brightened his face in a mockery of the man’s earlier statement. The adult jumped, he hadn’t been aware enough to realize the kid re-entered the main room.

“Huh wh-! Oh yeah, I didn’t actually grab any clothes before we came, I got distracted I guess, so I just put this back on!” He looked down at himself, “I’ll change when I get to the cabin.”

‘I? Not we?’

“Whatever, lets go.”

The camper briskly set off carrying his bundled towel, he passed his counselor on the way out. The sound of heavy footsteps from the other’s longer stride quickly caught up to his own. 

They walked side by side for a short while, the only sound being their gravelly steps meshing together before the older came to a stop in front of the turn that led to the campers’ tents. The boy turned to look up at him, seeing apprehension in his eyes. 

‘He wants to get rid of you.’

He cleared his throat and rocked onto his toes. 

“Um.. Goodnight, Ma-“

The younger cut him off by adamantly thrusting his towel up at the man.

“There’s a washing machine at your cabin.” 

“Can’t you wait to put it in with the rest of your stuff on laundry day? It’s less than a week away!” 

David was obviously agitated, only fueling the kid’s drive to not be left behind. 

“It’s really wet and it’s humid out, it’ll grow mildew, but hey if you want to do a full load, I can get the rest of my clothes.” He snarked, “Wouldn’t want to wast water, right?”

“No that’s-“ The adult pinched his brow and sighed before dropping some tension and softening his expression, “Look, Max, I can accommodate when you have nightmares or emotional struggles because I’m your counselor, but outright giving you special treatment is inappropriate and unfair to the other campers!” 

“But I thought I was your faavoritee?”

The camper put on his best hurt expression, fully playing out the manipulation.

“I never said that-“

“Not explicitly.”

“Not at all! I-”

“It was implied.” 

“That’s not at all wh-“

“You couldn’t shut up about me!”

“MAX!”

Max froze. 

‘DANGER!’

The counselor accidentally raised his voice a notch higher and was harsher than he’d intended, immediately upon realizing this he panickedly looked around to make sure he didn’t wake anyone. The boy, however, had fallen completely silent, his wide eyes looking up at his counterpart with a completely different expression than before, he no longer seemed interested in bantering. 

‘HIDE! GET AWAY!’

When the adult returned his gaze, he noticed the changed demeanor and dropped down to a kneel to be on the same level as the kid. He tried to reach out to comfort him, but the other pulled away from his hand instinctively.

“Max, I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to snap at you, it’s not you, I’ve just been stressing over something silly. That’s no excuse to be mean but please don’t be upset, you didn’t do anything wrong.“ 

‘Badbadbad.’

He paused and sighed heavily.

“Like I said.. I’m not allowed to have ‘favorites’ or give special treatment, even if I wanted to! I could get in some big trouble actually but..” He bit at his lip nervously, “I did snap at you.. so I guess the right thing to do is make it up to you?”

Max shifted his eyes away from the man’s, gripping his towel to his chest. 

“Do you want to come to the cabin and we can wash that?” 

The camper was still obviously hesitant.

“Plus I think you left your bear on the couch this morning, so you should at least come get him?” 

‘nonoNO! Danger! Are you listening to me?? Not good! Not good! Get out of there!’

The boy scrunched up his face and scuffed his shoe against the ground. 

‘.. I.. trust him.’

After a moment of silent thought he finally nodded in agreement, prompting David to stand and reach down his hand to kindly gesture that he’d carry the smaller’s wadded up towel.

‘.. Hand..’

Misinterpreting the signal, Max wrapped his small fingers around the counselor’s larger ones. His hand was much bigger, warm even for the cool evening, and surprisingly smooth. 

_____________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your guys’ support, comments, kudos, and feedback fills me with joy! Thank you so much for reading and enjoying my work, it really keeps me going! <3
> 
> Also a big thanks to FelineJaye and Kialish for writing Living With Max, one of my all time favorite fics, it inspired me to write my own!!
> 
> Thank you for reading! I would love constructive critiscism as well as positive feedback if you have any!
> 
> Hate comments will be deleted, but thanks for giving me another hit by coming haha!
> 
> Playlist for fic: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZXN3XKOeaDhpE-7Xm-beuZ7whmtCr9ma


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters a little bit shorter than the last four, sorry about that. I know where I want to go with it, I’m just dealing with some less than savory things in real life and so it’s sometimes difficult to find motivation. I wanted to have a steady update time though so I decided to just release this one with slightly less content. I’ll keep writing, and thank you to everyone who has given such kind feedback and support so far! <3

‘Hand hand hand hand hand hand-‘

David licked his lips nervously, walking forward unsteadily. 

How did this happen? He felt dizzy. 

‘Hand Hand Hand Hand Hand Hand-‘ 

His skin burned at the contact. He had been trying to get Max away from him, how did THIS happen?? It wasn’t inherently bad.. but it wasn’t GOOD. He looked down at the small boy who’s fingers entangled his own. 

Had Max tricked him? Had he gotten him to raise his voice so he’d feel bad? Had he played right into his trap?

The kid looked back up at him.

‘Not good at all.’

The cabin was in front of them sooner than the counselor expected. Had they really already walked all that way? He sucked in his breath and held it, creaking open the old wooden door. 

The man peeked in, assessing the room. It was dark and quiet, Gwen must have hit the hay early. Okay. He opened the door wider, pulling the camper in behind him.

“If-if you want to um, watch something, you can set it up.. I’m gonna go change.”

Max nodded and slipped his hand out of his counselor’s. David let out a sigh of relief as he watched the boy shuffle over to the couch and pull himself up.

“Oh, and I’ll take your towel.” He added with a smile, walking past the sofa and grabbing it on the way to his room. 

He flicked off the light and closed himself into his bedroom, tossing the towel into his laundry basket before plopping gracelessly down onto his bed. Silence rang in his ears.

‘.. Oh my god..’

He dropped his head into his hands, hunched and defeated. 

‘What is WRONG WITH ME!?!’

The panic he had felt in the shower rekindled in his chest, gripping tightly and shaking him mercilessly. 

‘I can’t even make an excuse! I’m just DISGUSTING!!! I’m a horrible, terrible, awful creature. Not even human.’

Tears obstructed his view as his breathing quickened and became frantic. He slipped his fingers through his hair and pulled at it roughly.

‘Why is this happening??’

............

“You didn’t put something on?” David smiled weakly from the doorway, his eyes were raw from crying twice in one night and his exhaustion was apparent as he meandered over to his seat next to Max.

“Uh.. Yeah I just wasn’t feeling anything.” The boy scooted a little to give the man more room.

His counselor nodded. It was dark, save for the soft warm glow spilling from his half opened door, that barely backlit the living room. The adult fiddled his thumbs in his lap, trying to ease his mind.

“Hey, David..” 

The camper looked at his bear and tucked his feet up on the couch, and for a minute, he was quiet. The man almost said something before he started again. 

“I.. trust you.”

David swallowed thickly. 

‘Please don’t.’

He carefully turned towards the kid being uncharacteristically vulnerable next to him. 

“Thank you-“

“And..” The younger seemed to choke on his words, struggling to get them out, “I- I don’t want you to leave me.. or not like me!”

He gave a sob, contorting his face into an ugly cry as he fought to keep talking.

“I, want you to like me and want to be around me! And and, I know that I’m horrible but-“

“Max..”

The man had no idea what to do. Did he really think he didn’t like him? Was that better than him knowing how much he actually did? 

“You’re the only person who says nice things about me and e-even if you don’t mmean it it makes mme feel good-“ 

His heart ached in his as he watched the boy cry and heave next to him, not knowing how to comfort him without intruding his boundaries. He felt so useless.

“I do like you, though! I like you.. a lot.”

“But, but you don’t want to be around me- you think I’m bad, you just don’t want to- to say it.” He stuttered and looked away angrily.

The counselor bit down his apprehension and nerves, right now he needed to be there for his camper.

“Max.. can I uh..?” 

He awkwardly held his arms in an open gesture, not touching the boy, but giving him the choice to initiate contact. The smaller’s face displayed several different conflicting emotions before he hesitantly inched closer, allowing himself to move between the adult’s arms. As though he were dealing with a wild animal, the kid timidly pressed himself against the adult’s lean chest and gripped at the soft, too-large sleep shirt. 

David blushed warmly and wrapped his lanky arms around the little frame that was flush against his body. 

“You’re very important and.. I’m sorry if I said or did something that made you think I don’t care about you.”

He felt the younger shift, bringing his thin legs up to rest more comfortably.

“No.. I’m just an idiot.” Max hiccuped, glaring out at the room. 

“No.. You’re not.”

There was no response, just the softening of jagged breaths until they were shallow but even.

The man ran his fingers through the boy’s slightly damp hair, twisting a curl between his thumb and forefinger. A shudder ran through the small body in his arms and he froze his movement. 

“Don’t stop.” The kid wiggled and murmured softly. 

‘Oh dear.. I need to get away from this. Too close. Too close.’

He continued to fiddle with the camper’s hair, chewing at his lip anxiously but not removing himself from the situation.

‘But this is so nice..’ 

David rested his head back, absorbing the affection emitting from the kid that was loosely wrapped around him and seemed to be growing drowsy. He brought his legs up on the couch, causing the other to shift to accommodate the smaller space, the man’s body sandwiching the boy between him and the couch.

Their breathing mellowed and deepened as the two drifted off. 

______________________________

Max roused to the sound of his counselor’s clock blaring from the other room, without opening his eyes he grumbled and buried his face into the warm blanket.

‘Not a blanket?’

It was too warm and squishy, he was confused but not alarmed. The boy squirmed slightly, trying to figure out his surroundings without prying open his sleepy eyes.

‘Hmm.. body!’

Wait. 

Body?? 

He woke up quickly at the realization. 

Yep. 

Definitely a body.

Definitely David’s body. 

The kid was laying on top of his larger counterpart, positioned so his stomach was pressed against the man’s pelvis and his head came to rest just under the other’s diaphragm. One of the adult’s legs was hanging off the side of the sofa and the other was pressed against the backing, as far away as it could get from the camper, but he imagined that when they had been asleep, their limbs were entangled together.

He lifted his head to peer at David’s face, resting his chin on the other’s sternum. The man was staring back at him withe wide green eyes through his fingers, covering most of his cheeks and mouth with his hands. Despite that, Max could see that he was blushing. A lot.

“Um, good morning!” 

The counselor’s voice cracked slightly, the kid studied his expression. He seemed.. really uncomfortable with the whole ordeal.

“I need to get up..” he said clearing his throat to sound slightly more confident. 

“Sure.”

The boy pulled himself up, sitting back on his knees. Immediately the adult took his hands away from his face and pushed up onto his elbows to get up, unintentionally exposing his bright red freckled cheeks. Max smirked, still positioned between the older’s knees, he took a moment to arch his back and stretch out. Peeking through one eye as he yawned, he caught sight of the strange grimace David was wearing.

‘Freak.’

The camper crawled to the other side of the couch and settled back down, not really wanting to be up yet. 

‘Funny how David always seems so touchy, yet as soon as he actually has long contact, gets so antsy and weird.’

He mused to himself as he watched the man get up and walk to his room.

‘Or you’re just assuming being that clingy is normal and you’re actually just being suffocating and entitled.’

 

The kid squinted frustratedly.

‘Could you fuck off for literally one second??’

He rolled over and pouted at the back of the sofa. 

.........

Max stood outside the mess hall, kicking up dust with his shoe. He looked around nervously as the other campers began to aggregate outside the building. Keeping his head down, he sneakily stole glances every few seconds to look for two kids in particular.

He spotted the pair walking from up the trail and quietly hissed in disdain. 

“Fucking hurry up and open the doors.” He muttered, more aggressively stirring the dirt.

They just drew closer and closer as he tried to nonchalantly press against the building and away from his friends. Finally, at the last minute he heard the doors unlatch and he pushed inside as the quarter master swung them open. 

The old man grunted and stepped back, letting the other kids flow into the log building. The smell of burned batter and boxed eggs wafted around and through the open door as everyone came in, followed by the counselors. The lanky man stood by the entrance, watching over the breakfast line as his grumpy coworker carried a steaming cup of coffee to her usual seat. 

Max’s lip twitched as he brooded near the far wall, he had left the counselor’s cabin early while David was in his room and hadn’t been able to get his usual morning shot of caffeine. He just hadn’t really wanted to deal with Gwen again, since she seemed so interested in dissecting him yesterday.

The boy watched his happy-go-lucky counselor waltz away from his post at the front to join the woman, smiling and making some upbeat comment about how lovely a day it was going to be. The camper rolled his eyes and watched the line. He wasn’t sure where he was going to sit and none of the options seemed very appealing. Either idiots or friends that currently hated him. 

He sighed and fumbled with his hands in his hoodie pocket, he wasn’t hungry but he couldn’t really leave the cafeteria, seeing that David had already given so much leniency yesterday for lunch and dinner. Not that he cared about the rules or anything, it was just an unnecessary hassle to weasel his way out of them.

‘Weak.’ 

Now that more people had settled down to eat, he swept his gaze around the room again to scope out possible seating. This time he caught the eye of his redhead counselor, who smiled and waved him over to join. 

‘Ugh, goddamnit.’

He tried to ignore it and continue looking at the other occupied tables. 

“Max!”

The boy cringed at his name being called across the mess hall, dear god the man was going to draw everyone’s attention. He begrudgingly marched over to the smiling idiot just so he would quiet down.

“What, David? You didn’t get enough time with me last night and you’re dying for more??” The kid snarked, putting his hands on his hips. 

The man winced and shot a glance at his magazine-absorbed coworker.

“No, we just can’t have a Campbell Camper standing alone at breakfast time!”

“What, is it gonna give you a bad rep in the press? Drive away customers and make you go out of business?? God forbid any child ever has to be alone!!”

“Of course not! We just want you to have fun, and it’s hard to do that all by yourself!” The counselor was really giving it his all.

“I could think of a few ways to have fun with yourse-“

“Max!!” The lightest tinge of pink stained David’s cheekbones, “Please just sit with us?”

The camper heaved an exasperated breath and dropped onto the bench opposite of the adults.

“Happy?”

“Yes! Thank you!” The redhead closed his eyes with a wide, genuine smile across his blushed face. 

‘Cute.’

Max nearly gagged at the intrusive thought. 

‘David’s literally the farthest fucking thing from cute??’

‘He’s old, annoying, ugly, and retardedly optimistic! And not to mention; a man?? Not that there’s anything wrong with being gay. I’m just not into that shit!’

‘So what the fuck then?!’

He intensely bore holes into the man adjacent to him with his scrutinizing gaze. 

“Everything good there, kiddo?” 

Gwen’s voice was unexpected and it caused the boy to snap out of his haze and blink rapidly as he looked over to her. 

“What?”

She straightened out her magazine and raised her eye brows with a smirk, suggestively glancing at her oblivious coworker who was busy fussing over his clipboard.

“Oh, I dunno, you just seem very interested in staring at a certain someone.. Maybe thinking about what I said?”

“Oh fuck off, you nosy bitch.” 

He glared at the prodding female as she just grinned wider with a ‘knowing’ look before going back to skimming her gossip article.

Max didn’t know what ‘normal’ dads usually did with their kids but he was sure David would most likely be shit at it.


	6. Chapter 6

David bounced his leg, staring at the clipboard in front of him. He kept having to reign his thoughts back in as they wandered off and lost traction. The man absently poked at his collarbone. 

They were going to have limnology camp and water safety this morning, then swimming in the afternoon once it’s warmed up more. Neil would like the science part of it and most of the kids enjoyed getting in the water.

The counselor looked up across the table at Max, the boy seemed to be busy glaring at Gwen so he swept his gaze over the rest of the campers for a quick head count. 

Everything seemed to be in order, he glances at his coworker. 

“Can you hold down the fort while I go get supplies ready for today?”

“Yeah, whatever.” She grunted, waving him off and flipping a page. 

He smiled sweetly at his co-counselor before pushing up from the table.

“Make sure to eat some breakfast, kiddo!” The man ruffled Max’s hair as he walked towards the door.

“Fuck off, camp man.” 

He surveyed the room one last time before pushing through the tall mess hall doors and out to the rest of the camp. David took a deep breath, letting it out shakily before he set off towards the activities shed. 

The redhead felt an empty exhaustion even though he had slept more last night than he usually did in a week and it was contradicted by the sour feeling in his stomach that amplified whenever his heart rate went up. His hollow anxiety nauseated him as he walked along the trail. 

He was catapulting rapidly between feeling nothing and having the overwhelming urge to bawl and throw up, he didn’t know which was worse. 

‘Max.’

Images and sensations left over from earlier in the morning kept assaulting his mind. How cute the boy had looked laid out on top of him- dear god, was he really thinking like that?? 

The man wrapped his arms around himself and roughly jabbed his fingers between his ribs. He winced as pain radiated around his torso, gritting his teeth he angrily tightened his gripped against himself. 

‘Disgusting! Disgusting!!!!’ 

“Disgusting.” He reiterated with a quiet snarl to himself as he pushed into the soft pale skin. He would have bruises.

........

“Took you long enough.” Gwen remarked, crossing her arms as she watched David dragging a tub of water testing and safety equipment.

“It’s a lot of supplies!” He smiled, stopping in front of the mess hall doors where the woman had the kids semi-congregated, he whistled short and loudly to grab all the campers’ attention. 

“Okay kiddos, we’re headed down to the lake today!-“ before he could get the rest of the day’s activities listed, Nikki, Space Kid, Neil and Nerris were all headed towards the shore, he sighed, “Okay! Well Gwen, will you help me carry this the rest of the way?”

“Fine.” 

His coworker made a face before joining him at the opposite end of the bin, grabbing the lid’s handle. They led the rest of the campers the short distance down to the lake. 

“Alright! First off for today we’re gonna have limnology camp! Does anyone know what limnology is?”

David chimed as soon as they had set down the supplies and everyone was in hearing distance. Neil’s hand shot up, impatiently giving his answer before getting called on.

“It’s the study of fresh inland water including but not limited to: biology, chemistry, and geography.”

“Very good! That’s exactly right!” The counselor grinned, popping the lid off the tub to reveal several different scientific instruments mixed in with life jackets and rope. 

“This is a secchi disk, it’s used to calculate the general clarity of the water, which can tell you how much silt, pollutants or ‘turbidity’ the water has!”

He held up a black and white painted disk that had a string attached in the center of its top. 

“And these bad boys-“ He pulled out two small dropper bottles, “-are a must for any backpacker! It gets rid of bacteria and parasites in water like E. Coli and Giardia so you can drink it!” 

There were a couple curious eyes from the group which made the redhead excited.

“Come onto the dock and I’ll show you how all this works!”

The kids meandered after him with the help of Gwen herding the stragglers until they were all crowded near the end of the dock. 

“Alrighty, campers! And co-counselor!” 

He pocketed the two small containers for a later demonstration and wrapped the string of the secchi disk around his hand before holding it over the water and slowly lowering it down.

“So you wanna make sure it’s balanced flatly so you don’t get an incorrect reading, you can begin to see that it disappears the deeper it gets, that’s because there’s more microscopic material between us, and it!”

“Now I’m not a water oriented scientist, but damn that is murky! Are you sure that’s even safe to swim in??” Neil was peering at the instrument over the docks edge.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day!” David beamed dumbly.

“What I- I don’t think you understand what that saying means..”

The man looked down into the water that had seemingly swallowed the disk in its cloudiness.

“Well a little muddy water never hurt anyone! When you’re out hiking and there’s dirt and sticks at the bottom of your water bottle it’s called ‘trail spice’!”

“I thought that was like, a drug or something?” Erid commented, she sounded just as unenthusiastic as ever, making the adult scowl.

“Noo, I think that’s just spice..”

“So if we smoked it while camping, it could be considered trail spice?” Nurf pondered, adding to the growing curiosity of the surrounding kids.

“Well, I don’t encourage-“

“I bet I could make spice, it’s just a synthetic cannabinoid created with chemicals to mimic tetrahydrocannabinol sprayed onto inert plant matter.. Alkaloids like betonicine, aporphine, leonurine, nuciferine.. maybe including O-desmethyltramadol and AH-7921..” Neil got lost in thought listing chemicals and compounds.

“Haha no no no, this is not a good idea kids-“

“Oh my stars! This is just like Breaking Bad!!” Preston jumped in on the action with waving arms.

“Bad ass.” Erid smirked.

“I call being Jesse if Neil is Heisenberg!” Nikki pushed to the front of the group that was now crowded at the edge of the dock.

“Now I’m glad you guys are all excited about an activity, but I think it’s headed in the wrong direction! None of you should even know what that show is!!-“ He looked up pleadingly at his coworker, “- Gwen a little help here??” 

“Oh no way, I can’t wait to see where this is going. Drug cartel camp? Most interesting idea I’ve heard all year!” 

“Oh dear.”

_____________________________

Max sat on the pebbly shore of the lake, looking over the water. The heat of the afternoon made a slight mirage dance just above the surface of the far off waves as the other campers splashed and waded in the shallows. 

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, laughing and swimming like normal kids, after the whole “Breaking Bad camp” fiasco. The momentary craze had died down about halfway through lunch when Nurf, who had been acting in the roll of Gus, refused to die off. Max didn’t really care, he had been pinned as Tuco, so not only was he the shitty bad guy, he also didn’t even get to make it past season two. At least it meant Nikki and Neil were kinda sorta talking to him, even if it wasn’t necessarily “positive interaction”.

He watched his friends in the water and stacked up a pile of small rocks between his knees. The blue haired girl seemed much more confident compared to her gawky partner, she kept disappearing under the murk for a few moments so she could pop up behind him and try to drag his taller body under. Her perseverance made the grumpy boy watching from the shore smile before a pang of guilt settled in his stomach.

He wanted to join them but wasn’t completely sure he was welcome.

‘Always gotta fuck up good things.’

He grumbled to himself as he shifted his gaze, not wanting to think about it anymore. The boy’s eyes scanned the beach, Gwen was suntanning on a towel, Space Kid was seemingly attempting to breath underwater, and Nurf was looking for sharp rocks to replace his knife that was confiscated earlier.. nothing particularly interesting. 

The camper spied David standing by the waters edge showing Ered and Nerris how to skip rocks. He pondered for a moment; usually the counselor was in the water watching over the swimmers and making sure they didn’t drown or something. Come to think of it, the man wasn’t even wearing his bathing suit, just his normal uniform.

The kid squinted at the fully dressed figure, noting that the rest of the group was in proper attire, even himself, and he hated being in stupid fucking Camp Campbell-brand trunks. 

Max chewed on his lip, wondering why his counselor wasn’t following his own strict dress code.

‘Why do you care?’

He shook his head quickly, he didn’t care, not really, not about David of all people. There were way more important people to think about. 

The boy flitted his gaze back to two smaller bodies splashing in the lake, a half conscious idea forming in his head.

......

“Hk- god damnit!” Max snapped aloud, pulling his hand out of the water, empty save for the silty mud draining between his fingers. 

He frustratedly shook the thick brown gunk off his arm and glared into the, now, even murkier water. 

‘This wasn’t supposed to be this difficult.’

The kid groaned and walked around to the other side of the small-ten foot marsh that was settled in the woods just out of view from the lake. The stagnant water was warm but he didn’t dare wade into the shallow pond, knowing the bottom was so water saturated it would suck him in up to his waist. 

He crouched in the tall grasses at the edge of the wetland and focused his predatory eyes on the little wiggly creatures darting around the shallows. 

The tadpoles didn’t seem to notice him as they sucked down water skippers, snails, and any other little bug unfortunate enough to cross their path. He settled into his spot, sitting back on his heels as he watched their little pod slowly make its way closer to the bank. The camper silently marveled at their ability to eat, they hadn’t stopped their feast once since he’d arrived, even with the occasional interruption of his hand trying to scoop them up.

He leaned forward, tensing up and letting his hand creep forward as the first fat undeveloped baby toad started to nibble at the algae coated grass stalks a foot in front of him.

‘Wait for it.....’

Max narrowed his eyes in anticipation, ready to shoot forward at any minute to grab the tiny animal.

‘W-!’

Suddenly the tadpole was sucked down at a slight angle, deeper into the grasses, causing the boy to make a soft startled noise and freeze. He quickly searched for what stole away the little guy, trying to make as little movement as possible so he didn’t startle what ever it was. 

He shifted onto his hands and knees, lowering his face closer to the surface of the marsh to peer into where the thick foliage along the bank merged into the water. Spotting the culprit, he let out a soft gasp, he’d never seen something like it before. 

The creature looked like a big tadpole, at least the size of his hand, but it had frilly feather-like things all along the back of its head, and little fully developed arms and legs. He smiled at the newly discovered abomination that floated carelessly in the murk, it was perfect. 

Very carefully, the camper slid his hand into the water several inches away from the brute, figuring this guy wasn’t going to expect predators from below. He positioned himself until he was just under the suspended creature, before quickly bringing his hand up and closing it around the slimy little body. 

“YES!!!!” Max shouted as he shot to his feet, triumphantly holding the wriggling animal in his small hand. 

His knees were covered in mud as well as both his hands and elbows, but he surprisingly didn’t care as he cupped his catch with both hands and peeled at it between his fingers. It’s body squirmed in s-formations back and forth in his palms, like it was trying to swim away. He grinned at it earnestly and tromped over to a tupperware container, he had brought along that he had filled with some of the pond water. 

“This is your new home you fat, alien-looking fucker.” The kid murmured affectionately as he slid the creature into the plastic holding cell, “Nikki’s gonna love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the bit of a hiatus, took a short break to mentally recooperate! But the chapters keep comin’ baby!  
> This ones the same length as the last chapter, but thanks for chuggin’ along with me haha ;)
> 
> So yeah, this happened because of a dream I had.
> 
> Also a big thanks to FelineJaye and Kialish for writing Living With Max, one of my all time favorite fics, it inspired me to write my own!!
> 
> Thank you for reading! I would love constructive critiscism as well as positive feedback if you have any!
> 
> Hate comments will be deleted, but thanks for giving me another hit by coming haha!
> 
> Playlist for fic: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZXN3XKOeaDhpE-7Xm-beuZ7whmtCr9ma


	7. Chapter 7

It was 4:00pm and free-time had just started, but most of the kids were still hanging around the lake, swimming or talking. Gwen had taken Harrison, Dolf, and Preston to the mess hall to put some aloe vera on their sunburned skinned and stay indoors to do crafts before dinner. 

David sat on the dock with his feet in the water, soaking in the warm rays of light as the day slowly tipped into evening. After lunch, the camp had been relatively relaxed and lazy, if the man could see through his own inner turmoil, he would have been ecstatic.

Things were easy when the kids were distracting him; when he had to chase them down and confiscate their ‘drugs’ or when he was teaching Nerris and Erid how to skip stones.. but as soon as he got a minute in silence, his nerves would start to creep up, wrap around his throat, and squeeze out his breath. 

The counselor chewed at the skin around his nail, making it sting as he looked out at the campers, making sure they were all there. 

‘Wait where’s Max?’

He stood up, counting again, and then a third time. When was the last time he’d checked to make sure all the kids were there? When they all got to the water... that means the boy could have been missing for almost three hours, or only ten minutes!

He bit down harder on his finger, turning around quickly to look up the shore and to the edge of the forest. 

Immediately he breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted the hot-headed child standing at near the outskirts woods. It seemed Max had been looking for him as well, because when they locked eyes he motioned a small hand for the adult to come towards him. 

David glanced over his shoulder at the others still in the shallows of the lake before pulling his socks and boots back on and traveling up the bank ten yards or so to meet the impatiently waiting camper. As he got closer he saw that the boy’s shoes, shorts, arms, and knees had a coating of dry mud on them. 

“Max? Where have you been? Why are you so dirty!” The counselor fretted as he came to a stop in front of the kid.

“The details are unimportant,” He snapped, “but uh...” Max peeked around the redheads slender legs, cautiously checking the coast. 

“I need help with some nature bullshit..”

The man immediately lit up with excitement, Max? Actually interested in nature? This was a dream! 

“Of course, oh my gosh what can I help you with!!”

“Sh!!” The boy hissed sharply, his counselor bit his tongue but continued to bounce up and down slightly, “hold on, let me get her..”

David watched with shining eyes as the camper turned and slid into the bushes a few steps before kneeling down and very carefully pulling something out from under the foliage. The sound of gently sloshing water could be heard as he brought it closer, not quite all the way out into the open. 

“Come here.” The kid whispered, looking down at whatever was in his grasp with quiet awe. 

The adult took one stride forward into the underbrush and squatted in front of the child, peering into the shallow, water-filled tupperware. 

“Max!” He gasped, “Do you know what that is!?”

“Uh, that’s kinda what I need your help with..”

“That’s a juvenile tiger salamander!”

The boy made a soft ‘oh’ sound, studying the creature. 

“ Where’d you find it? How’d you catch it??” 

The redhead put his hands over Max’s smaller ones holding the sides of the container to provide support and steady it as he got a closer look.

“Well I was out looking for.. I thought maybe if I..” he sounded embarrassed, “I wanted to catch something to give to Nikki, to sort of replace the toad.. and I saw this fatass eat one of the tadpoles I was after, so I kinda just scooped her up instead.”

“Aawe, Max, that’s so sweet of you!” 

The two looked up from the little amphibian, the kid had an annoyed and frustrated pout sculpted on his face, accompanied by a fierce blush. David pulled his hands away. Fast.

“Uhm,” the man cleared his throat, “What makes you think it’s a girl?”

“Oh. Well I originally was thinking it was a boy, and I’m not like a.. salamander expert or whatever-“

“Herpetologist.“

“.. but she’s just really pretty. And like that’s probably shallow and misogynistic to say or some shit, but just look..”

The camper lifted the container slightly so that it was out of the shadow of the bushes, the late afternoon sun cut through the murky water and illuminated the salamander’s skin turning the dark, dull pattern to an iridescent green. The small change in elevation made the animal panic a small amount, it swam against the corner, swishing its body and making itself shimmer and flash with small golden freckles. 

“Oh wow!” The counselor marveled, a smile spreading widely on his face, “She IS lovely!”

“Yeah.” The boy lowered it back down, “Anyways, the other thing I needed your help with was that I was gonna keep her in this,” he gestured with the tupperware, “but now I want something bigger.. so she’s not so cramped. Do you have something I could use?”

They sat quietly for a minute as the man pondered the question.

“Hmm, I think there’s some old clear -plastic bins in the back of the activities shed, we could use those?” He looked over his shoulder and then at his watch, “but it’s getting late and I can’t leave the other campers unattended.. I’ll tell you what. I’ll call in the others to dry off and then after dinner we can build this little lady an aquarium!” 

David stood up, placing a hand on his hip and using the other to ruffle Max’s hair.

“Okay.”

.........

“Jesus, he killed a toad?”

“Well it was an accident!”

“I wouldn’t be surprised by some psychopath shit like that from him though.”

“Gwen-“

David gave his coworker a stern look. 

“I’m just saying! Either him or Nurf would be the ones to snap!”

The man huffed slightly, taking a bite of dinner. He’d decided to debrief his friend on the whole situation while they ate so that he could have some wiggle room when asking her to watch the campers while he and Max built a new tank for the salamander.

“Anyways, it made Nikki and Neil really upset-“

“Understandably.”

“And he felt really bad about it, so today while everyone else was swimming he spent his time catching a new little critter-“

“Oh god-“ 

“To GIVE to NIKKI. Gosh Gwen, he’s not evil!”

She snickered but nodded, listening.

“So, he caught a salamander and right now it’s in a small container outside, he asked me to help him make a better home for it, which I agreed to do after dinner.. That’s where I was hoping you’d come in..?”

“How could I have been so foolish as to believe you just wanted to gossip.” The woman sighed and mocked a hurt look, “What do you need?”

“Well.. I was wondering if you’d watch the rest of the kids while I help out Max? You could just put on a movie and keep them in here, I’m sure the Quarter Master wouldn’t mind throwing together some snacks! It won’t take long at all I promise!” 

David breathed in sharply.

“Yeah, yeah, calm your tits.”

“That’s a yes?”

“Closest thing you’re gonna get to it, yep.”

“Oh thank you, Gwen!” The counselor wrapped his long arms around his coworker and smiled brightly, “You’re the best!!”

........

“Psssst!” David waved a hand as subtlety as possible to catch the attention of the boy sitting at the edge of the group, quietly adding “Max!”

There was glare in reply before the kid got up and snuck over. 

“Wow, let everyone know why don’t ya.” His voice was sarcastic but he seemed happy to see his counselor actually following through with their plans. 

“Sorry, you ready?”

Max nodded, prompting the man to quietly lead the way out of the cafeteria. A soft, ambient glow had settled on the camp as the sun barely began to kiss the horizon. The two walked in relative silence, with only the white noise of their shoes against the trail and impatient crickets’ chirping filing the space between them.

They approached the activities shed, the boy a few steps behind his taller counterpart. As they got to the building, David clapped his hands together, breaking the silence.

“Okay! I’ll bring out a few options for ya, and you can choose the one you want?”

“Okay.”

The kid walked over to the right side of the shack to get the salamander that they’d stashed there earlier as his counselor went inside.

Three plastic tubs were dropped in front of Max once he made it back around to the front. The camper liked the biggest but it was also the most opaque, the most clear one was the smallest. He chewed his lip in consideration before putting his hand on the medium bin. 

“This one.”

David grinned and nodded moving the other two by the the door of the shed before rejoining the boy.

“So you said it’s a salamander, right?”

“Well it’s a juvenile salamander, like a baby!”

“So.. it doesn’t go on land at all?”

“Not yet! It’s like a tadpole, eventually it’s gills will recede and it’s tail will flatten and it’ll move to land. We can house the metamorphosis and watch it if we build this tank right!”

That seemed to spark some well-concealed interest in the kid

“First we’ll need a layer of gravel and dirt for the bottom-“

......

David sighed heavily as he meandered back to the counselors cabin. It was dark out now, just past ten. He was on his way back from checking on all the of the campers in their tents. They were all there except one, but he had a hunch as to where the kid would be. 

He walked as slowly as he could without completely dragging his feet. 

‘Not another night.. not after this morning..’

It would have been considered a prayer if the counselor was a religious man. He was making up his mind; he had to make another attempt to push away the night time intruder. 

Max was sitting on the weathered wooden steps of the cabin, looking over the right side where there was a plastic tub aquarium. The man watched as he threw something into the water with a grin across his small, poorly lit face. 

“Hey, David! I got her to eat some worms!” The boy looked up at him as he approached, an uncharacteristically genuine smile shone through the night, which the redhead attempted to return.

“Uh, you.. okay, camp man?” He seemed to pick up on the uncomfortable energy radiating from the tall form. 

‘Here we go...’

David sat next to the kid on the porch, clasping his hands together stiffly. 

“Well.. If you’re going to keep coming here at night because of nightmares, I’d like to talk about what they’re about. That way we can work towards fighting your fear instead of just enabling it. I am your counselor and I want to help.. so will you tell me, Max?”

_____________________________

‘But today was a good day. Why? I didn’t want to think about this.. hhh fuck what the f-‘

“Max?”

‘Gross gross bad bad.’

“You don’t have to go into too much detail or anything, just talk about a little bit?”

A hand rested on his small back, making him flinch. 

“What? Oh fuck. Right. Uh.” The boy’s eyes felt like he couldn’t blink and he tried to cringe away from the warm fingers on his shoulder, “Can you not touch me?”

“Oh sorry!!” The counselor pulled away like his hand had been scalded, “You look like you’re getting sick, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” He snapped, suddenly furious his counselor was forcing him to talk and think about bad shit, “Not that you’re helping at all, why the fuck are you so nosy, anyways??”

“I want to help you, but I can’t do that if you stay closed off to me.”

“What do you get out of helping me and getting in my business? If I wanted this bullshit I would have asked for it, but I didn’t, because who the hell wants bullshit!?”

“Well Max you have been coming to my cabin and I think that’s your way of asking for help whether you realize it or not..”

“Oh fuck you-“

“Please. If you do want to keep coming here I need to know you’re not just manipulating me.”

‘What?’

“Excuse me?” His heart seemed to collapse in on itself a little bit, he got quieter, “Manipulating you?”

‘Am I manipulating him?’

“Well I didn’t mean it like that, I’m sure you are having issues, but are you using them for your benefit?”

‘No..’

“Are you serious? Am I that trivial to you that you think I’d do something like that??” Max looked down at his hands, he didn’t want to be here, he didn’t want to touch his own skin, he didn’t want to live. 

“No.. I just, how am I supposed to know what you’re thinking if you won’t open up to me?” The man looked just as uncomfortable as his counterpart. 

Tears started to brim in the kid’s eyes.

‘Bad, I’m so fucking horrible.’

“So.. you want me to talk..?”

“Well yes, that would be nice, Max.”

“Well... the nightmares they’re about..” He fidgeted and uneasily looked around, “My um.. my dad..”

David seemed to pale even further in the moonlight as salty tears broke out of the child’s eyes and spilled down his cheeks.

“Your dad?” He stuttered.

The boy nodded and took a sputtering breath.

“Yeah um.. he’s done. Bad things.” His words were jerky and broken by deep sobs. Panic began to show in the redheads face and voice.

“Wh- what kind of things..?”

His small body shuddered roughly like he was about to throw up at the thought of divulging the information, he shook his curly head vigorously trying to deter the intrusion.

“Max did he.. has he beaten you?” His counselor’s voice trembled, he sat rigidly, obviously not knowing what to do. The only reply he got was a soft head nod between hiccuping tears. But the child still seemed tense.

“Oh god there’s more.. did he..” David swallowed thickly, tears coming to his own eyes.

‘Please don’t ask, don’t fucking say it.’

“Did he touch you?”

_____________________________

‘Oh god.’

Max’s wails of anguish rang out through the cold night air, slicing through the trees and the walls of the cabin. There were footsteps from inside, walking towards the door, which quickly swung open to reveal a concerned Gwen. 

‘Oh no.’

“David,” He quickly stood up from where he had been sitting next to the kid on the steps, “What the hell is going on??”

Her eyes shot down to the loudly sobbing child on their porch, a maternal worry flashing across her face. 

“He, I, we were just, I was trying to-“ Her coworker’s explanation was disjointed and coated in anxiety.

“Shut up, we need to get him inside before the whole camp wakes up. Hold on.” 

She disappeared into the house for a second before returning with the knit blanket that was usually draped along the back of the sofa. 

“Come here, sweetie.” She murmured wrapping the blanket around the little camper, “David, can you bring him to the couch, please?”

The man stood dumbfounded for a second before processing what exactly it was she wanted him to do. 

“Oh, right, sure.” 

He knelt down next to the small, quilt-covered body and scooped it into his lanky arms, easily lifting him up and through the doorway. Gwen led him to the couch where she adjusted the throw pillow and watched her friend put the crying boy down on the cushions.

Her brows pulled together in a frown as the child pulled the cloth over his head, shaking and grieving, she looked over at her co-counselor with a harsh gaze mouthing ‘What the fuck.’

The redhead grimaced, checking on the camper before gesturing back towards the entrance. She got the hint and stepped out before him, waiting on the porch as he caught up. 

“What the hell happened, David, what did you do!?”

The man made a quality whimper, cringing at the harsh tone. 

“I didn’t mean to, I just wanted to get him to talk to me, I swear!!”

“Jesus- talk about what??”

“What his nightmares have been about.”

This piqued the woman’s interest as her anger subsided in favor of curiosity. 

“Oh? And he opened up to you?”

‘I wish he hadn’t.’

“Yes..” He gripped his hands tightly, causing the knuckles to turn white.

“And?? What the fuck is in his dreams that made him react like that??” 

Her demand was met with an uncomfortable silence as David avoided eye contact and shuffled uneasily.

“It’s.. um his parents, well er, his dad..”

“Holy shit..” Her expression dropped to dead seriousness, “Fuck.”

“Yeah.. I think they’re like flashbacks or something because he said that like, well I think he was beaten.. and..-”

“Oh, god no.”

“I think he was molested too..”

“Jesus Christ. He told you this??”

“Well pretty much yeah, he didn’t say many details though.”

Gwen huffed a heavy breath, leaning against the outside wall for support. She ran her fingers through her hair, thinking about what she was just told. Her coworker stood with weak knees, not knowing what to do with his hands. 

‘This is so bad. This is so horrible bad, how could this happen. Why him??’

“We can’t let him go back home.” She said suddenly, startling him out of his dissociative daze.

“Huh- what?”

“I said we can’t let him go back home. I know psychology isn’t the best major, but I know there’s no way I’m letting this kid go back to get even more traumatized. We have to get in touch with CPS.”

“CPS..”

“Child protective services, come on keep up David.” She stood up straight, off the wall, now in planning mode, “But I’d rather him not go into the system, if you take an already angry and damaged kid like him and send him into that machine, you’re just asking for a juvenile delinquent.”

“Gwen-“

She started to pace in the small space in front of the cabin.

“Even if he does get adopted, you never know what the persons gonna be like, you could have just sent him to an even worse place! That’s why we’d need to make sure he ends up with someone we know-“

“Gwen, slow dow-“

“David you could be his new dad!!” She turned to him with excited eyes.

“Wh- NO.” The redhead was taken aback.

“It’s perfect, he already looks up to you and I see how much you care about him, you fucking love summer camp, having a kid would be just like that but all year!”

“Wait, are you hearing yourself, you sound insane!” Anxiety gripped his chest at the woman’s overbearing enthusiasm, “I know you get excited about things and like to fantasize but, Gwen, we just found out about how abusive his household is, we can’t just jump into something like this!”

“Summer will be over in just a month, we don’t have forever to do this, just keep that in mind. But you’re right, the first step will be contacting CPS, we can talk to him about it and see when he’ll be ready for that. In the meantime.. show him what a good dad is like.” She smiled at her coworker softly, “I’m gonna check on the little asshole and make sure he’s okay, come in when you’re ready and we can we can put on a movie.”

And just like that, David was alone on the porch. His head was spinning and the cold air stung his lungs when he breathed in. The boots on his feet felt like cement blocks and the surrounding forest was the pitch black bottom of a lake that suffocated him. 

He stepped down the old creaky steps and looked up at the stars, he didn’t hear the sounds of the night that softly filled the air.

‘Fuck.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of Gwen this chapter! Hope you guys enjoy! This ones back on track for length :)
> 
> __________________
> 
>  
> 
> So yeah, this happened because of a dream I had.
> 
> Also a big thanks to FelineJaye and Kialish for writing Living With Max, one of my all time favorite fics, it inspired me to write my own!!
> 
> Thank you for reading! I would love constructive critiscism as well as positive feedback if you have any!
> 
> Hate comments will be deleted, but thanks for giving me another hit by coming haha!
> 
> Playlist for fic: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZXN3XKOeaDhpE-7Xm-beuZ7whmtCr9ma


	8. Chapter 8

“Dear god, can we watch literally anything else?” Max peeked out from under his knit blanket to glare at the TV and then at Gwen.

“Well, when I asked twenty minutes ago what you wanted to watch, it seemed you were too busy sobbing to object.”

A small foot shot out of its protective cloth-covering to kick the woman’s thigh.

“Not funny!” He pouted, curling back up tightly.

“Let me just finish this episode, then we can put on some kids’ show.”  
The camper rolled his eyes and haughtily watched the screen that displayed ‘Teen Wolf’. The two were positioned on the couch the same way Max and David usually slept, except on reversed ends. It wasn’t a big change, but just different enough to make the already exhausted boy slightly dazed. He wiggled deeper into the quilt.

“Where’s David?”

“He’s in his room.” The co-counselor shrugged before looking to a mug on the table, “I made you some hot chocolate if you want it.”

“Oh, thanks...”

He didn’t really feel like coming out from under his covers yet, but he reached out and grabbed the still semi-warm cup before quickly retracting his arms close to his body. He took a short sip as a handsome man seduced a woman on the TV. They sat in relative quiet for a few minutes before Gwen spoke up.

“So you know you can talk to me, too, whenever you want.”

“I’m going to go check on David.”  
The kid cut her off, wearing the blanket as a cloak as he slid off the sofa with his drink in hand.

“Wh-“

“Thanks for the cocoa.”

He smiled, genuine but dismissive, as he turned to shuffle around the couch. The woman decided to just let him be and continued watching her show; he’d be fine with David.

Max stood in front of the man’s door, debating whether or not he should just walk in, instead opting to lightly knock a few times and wait for an invitation. After a few seconds of silence and muffled noises from within the room, his counselor appeared, standing in the entrance. He looked around, passively trying to get out of the situation.

“Did Gwen want you to get me for something?”

“No.” The boy said flatly, pushing past the redhead’s legs and entering his private quarters.

“Oh… Did you need something then?” David left the door open just a crack before turning back to the intruder.

“Yeah, I need to not be bombarded by questions for one fucking second,” he snapped, leaving his lanky partner in slightly dumbfounded silence.  
The camper travelled deeper into the room, considering the bed for a moment before pulling himself up onto it. He sat near the edge with his legs criss-crossed and the blanket snuggly wrapped over his head and body.

“Well then what DO you want to do?”

“That’s another question, dumbass.”

David scrunched his face in discomfort.

“But I’ll let it pass.” He thought for a minute about the inquiry, “I don’t really know what I want to do… I can’t really think right now, actually.”

He flopped onto his side so that he was in a swaddled fetal position.

“I guess I just wanna lay here...”

“Okay!” The man smiled, carefully beginning to head for the door, “I’ll let you be then… so you can lay.”

The child curled a touch tighter.

‘Why doesn’t he want to be around me…? Is he grossed out by me now?’

A tear threatened in his eyes.

‘Of course he is.’

He sniffled pathetically.

“Or… I can stay if-- if you need...” The counselor paused his escape, clearly concerned about setting off another panic attack.

The boy gave a small nod, pouting at a corner of the quilt as he worked it between his thumb and forefinger.

There was some soft ruffling as David moved towards the bed, where he hesitated to get on. After some silent consideration, he sat on the floor with his back pressed against the mattress. His heavy sigh resonated through the room as he leaned his head back.

“I’m so sorry, Max.”  
__

The room was fully lit and soft snores filled the warm air, originating from just behind David.

‘Poor kid must be exhausted. I’ll make sure to take it easy on his activities tomorrow.’

The man checked his watch; 3:08am.

‘.. Today.’

It’d been at least four hours--

‘Really, that long?’

\--since he’d been joined by the boy in his bed. His back and hips were stiff from sitting on the hard wooden floor for so long. The time had passed him by as he had been too deep in thought to realize anything about his surroundings until now. And he still wasn’t any closer to figuring out what was going on.

Tonight’s most recent development had thrown in a whole new ingredient to the messed up concoction the counselor’s life seemed to be mixing into recently. He swallowed thickly, remembering how his thoughts have been betraying him.

‘Whatever this stupid puppy dog crush is that’s going on needs to stop.’

There was no way, especially now, that he could live with a clean conscious knowing his… deviation. Not that it was somehow more okay before… as if it would have been any less damaging if Max hadn’t been molested before.

The man started to feel dizzy and sick. He dropped his head between his knees and tried to take deep breaths.  
‘I am not a pedophile.’

‘I Am Not A Pedophile.’

‘I AM NOT. A FUCKING PEDOPHILE.’

His face contorted painfully as he tried to choke back a sob, sitting like this for a few minutes, wincing, before becoming still.

‘What if I’ve been interpreting this whole thing wrongly? That couldn’t be that far-fetched, right?’

He kept his head bowed between his legs as his mind raced.

‘It’s not uncommon for parents to want to interact with their kids intimately and lovingly.. Maybe I’m just imprinting on Max and that’s why I want to hold him or kiss him, it’s just parental instincts!’

He lifted his head with a wild look in his eyes, not focusing on anything in particular.

‘There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be an affectionate parent to Max, even if I’m just his counselor and that could totally be seen as inappropriate! I don’t have to touch him but thinking thoughts like this is completely okay!’

A funny half-smile, half-grimace crept across his lips, his right eye twitching slightly as he aggressively dug his nails into his upper arm.

‘This is completely fine!!’  
.......

David stood, floundering, in the dark by the side of the bed. His body ached with exhaustion and stiffness from spending so much time on the floor. He stared at the little body, still partially entangled with the blanket, that rose and fell with each small, sleep-filled breath.

‘Parent.’

The man lifted a knee up onto the bed. Max was right by the edge, which made it awkward and difficult to get up without waking him. Trying not to make too much movement, the counselor clambered over and around the boy.

‘Good parent.’

Dropping onto his side, back to the camper, he curled tightly into himself and wrapped his lanky arms around his legs.

Hot, emotional tears stung the redhead’s eyes. He let them fall, scouring paths down his cheeks and dripping from his nose. Snot began to run down his face as he sobbed quietly, his lungs constricting and jerking his body.

He couldn’t control his ugly crying, not even when he heard the soft rustling of blankets shifting.

Even less so when he felt a small, hesitant arm wordlessly rest on the side of his torso, attempting to embrace his much larger frame from behind.

‘Horrible counselor.’

.........

David’s shrill alarm tore through the static air of his room. He definitely hadn’t had more than an hour or two of sleep. His eyes screamed at him as he squinted them open. Trying to blink away the stickiness in them, he rolled slightly and pressed the snooze on the clock. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d used that button.

There was movement against his chest as he settled back into place on the bed.

‘Hmm?’  
He looked down at the warm mass snuggled up to him, an immediate pang of anxiety coursing through him when he did. Apparently he’d momentarily forgotten the previous night’s endeavor. The man breathed out a slightly painful wheeze as he quickly tried to maneuver out from under the child without waking him, and wiggled to the foot of the bed where he sat up.

‘What am I going to do…’

It wasn’t a question-- more of a silent, helpless plea for any sort of direction.

‘Get dressed.’

Right. That’s something he knew how to do right, he did it every morning! The counselor stood up and looked down at his clothes-

‘Oh.’

He’d slept in yesterday’s outfit. It was wrinkled from sleep. He absently rubbed a slow hand down the front of his shirt, then up his arms so that, when he stilled, he was loosely embracing himself.

As he stared at the floorboards of his room, he circled his fingers over a tender spot on his arm.

‘Bruises...? Right...’

His body seemed to be lightly sprinkled with dark, purplish-brown spots in clusters of four or five as of yesterday. Unfortunately, the most recent one just below his sleeve, he noticed, was glaringly visible.

Stepping to his closet, he pulled out a long-sleeve camp shirt, usually saved for rainy days or when nights started to cool down. The redhead glanced over at the sleeping figure in his bed to make sure he hadn’t woken yet before pulling off his vest and t-shirt, replacing it with the less revealing article. It clashed with his shorts, but it would have to do.  
After the slight wardrobe switch, he headed out into the living room to start getting ready for the day.

‘Where’d I put my clipboard..?’

He pondered, half-heartedly looking around the room. Deciding he’d find it before breakfast and that it wasn’t the most pressing matter, he moved to the kitchenette to prepare morning drinks.

Right when the coffee maker buzzed off, Gwen emerged from her room, looking groggy and done with everything.

“Coffee’s just finished! Would you like a mug?”

“What do you think.”

The bedraggled female stood behind David, waiting for him to pour her drink and hand it to her.

“Where’s the shit stain?” She eyed around the cabin as she blew on her coffee, “I’m assuming he spent the night again?”

The man paused for a fraction of a second.

“Uh- yeah… He fell asleep in my room.” He looked into the boiling black liquid in the coffee pot, “... I slept on the couch.”

‘Liar.’

“Ha, you’re spoiling him, he’s gonna become even more of a brat.” The woman scoffed unsuspectingly, “Weren’t you cold?”

Sweat started to bead on David’s forehead in guilt, psyching himself out as he tried to avoid eye contact.

“Huh, what?”

“Well, he took the throw blanket with him to your bed.”

“Oh- oh, right, yeah-- no, I was fine.”

He chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. His coworker was acting like nothing had happened last night, like there hadn’t been a horrible load of information dumped on their shoulders, making him feel even more alienated.

Gwen took her cup and went to sit at the table like she did every morning, sipping it and staring off into space, dreamily waking up. He felt crazy. He tried to busy himself pouring another mug for Max and steeping tea for himself.

Loud beeps abruptly began from behind the door of the redhead’s room, causing him to jump and almost spill the hot water everywhere. He shot a careful glance over at his friend; would she know he had been there to press snooze the first time it went off? After a second he came to the conclusion she either didn’t know or didn’t care, since her expression was unchanged except for a small tinge of annoyance.

He started towards the room to turn off the alarm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Rin_Ramen for beta reading this chapter for me, can’t wait to work more with you in the future X)
> 
> Also a big thanks to FelineJaye and Kialish for writing Living With Max, one of my all time favorite fics, it inspired me to write my own!!
> 
> Thank you for reading! I would love constructive critiscism as well as positive feedback if you have any!
> 
> Hate comments will be deleted, but thanks for giving me another hit by coming haha!
> 
> Playlist for fic: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZXN3XKOeaDhpE-7Xm-beuZ7whmtCr9ma


	9. Chapter 9

Max groggily watched the door open and a tall, pale man step through.

“Good morning, Max.”

The boy groaned, sliding his hand off the alarm clock and rolling onto his back. His skull ached with exhaustion from not having had enough sleep and spending so much time crying. He looked over at the other inhabitant in the room, and then past him. Through the half open door, the back of Gwen’s shoulder was just visible from where she sat at the table, the rest of her blocked from view.

“Good morning, Camp Man.” The kid’s gaze returned to his counselor, eyeing him over tiredly.

“How’d you sleep?” The man looked hopeful but his eyes were lacking their usual brightness.

“I need more.”

Without waiting for a response, Max rolled over and shut his eyes tightly, too tired to truly think about anything at all. He’d figure it out later.

“Okay.”

.........

The room was filled with dusty afternoon heat, small particles shining and dancing in a sunbeam that the old curtains let in. The boy had been stirring for the past twenty minutes, lucidly dreaming, not wanting to fully wake yet. Finally, he let his eyes squint open.

Everything was coated in a musty golden glow that bounced off the wooden cabin floors. The quilt that had covered his body the night before to protect from the weak chill was now strewn aside and partially tangled between his legs to ward off overheating.

He didn’t move positions, particularly comfortable where he wasâ€” the only sign he was awake was his slow open-palmed stroking of the scratchy wool blanket that lay tucked and unused beneath him. It was dark green with pictures of trees and geometric patterns knit in with rusty red and creamy white; not very soft, but undoubtedly warm.

Max sighed softly as he watched his own absent movement on the sheets, mind still foggy with what he had been dreaming about just a few seconds ago.

Images and dialogue from the night before whispered at the cusp of his mind, making him scrunch up his face.

‘Why did I do that.’

He could feel his chest starting to constrict with an uncomfortable tightness so he pulled the bed’s pillow over his head to deprive his senses. His heart and stomach ached but no tears came to his eyes.

‘Why the FUCK did I do that?’

The pillow over his face made it hard to suck in fresh breaths and made him slightly dizzy.

He was sure things were about to get a hundred times worse. What would happen? Would they send him back home? Were they even allowed to?

Fuck, why’d he have to go and fuck things up again, David was so freaked out.

‘He thinks I’m disgusting.’

The boy recalled his counselor’s sobs the night before. He still didn’t fully understand what had upset the man to tears but he knew it had only gotten worse when Max had tried to comfort him.

God, why was HE trying to comfort David? Wasn’t he the victim...?? Not that he should have just dumped it on either of his counselors like that...at least Gwen hadn’t flipped out like her coworker.

But wait. Wasn’t it really all David’s fault he said any of it anyways?! The man had no right to be upset with him when he was the asshole that pushed him to talk in the first place! That stupid prick couldn’t stand not to cry when told the truth. Didn’t he know there were other fucking people in the world besides him??

“EAUGH!!” Max let out an angry yowl as he ripped the pillow off his face and sat up.

‘What gave that entitled cunt the right to pry information like that??’

He slammed his pillow down against the bed, rocking up onto his knees for better leverage.

“Who is he to force me to talk???’

“Stupid-- dumb CUNT! Asshole dick bitch! FUCKER!!” The boy brought down the pillow, hitting it against the mattress with all his frustration as a guttural yell was torn from his throat.

“I--” Thunk, “HATE--” Thunk, “Y-“

A small creak from the living room floor froze his small body mid-strike. Without a moment of hesitation, he dropped the pillow, leapt from the bed and stomped over to the nearly closed door, throwing it open and pinning the man behind it with a deadly glare.

“YOU!” The kid all but shrieked.

David looked like a deer caught in headlights, pale and stuttering over himself.

“I- uh, hi Max, I- sorry, I was coming to check on you because Gwen wanted t- We wanted to see if you wanted to catch the tail end of lunch but you didn’t sound- you were upset so I was just-“

“SHUT UP!” The small camper marched towards the man who looked like he wanted to run away, “Shut up!!”

The approaching boy backed up the taller figure into the back of the couch as he tried to casually retreat.

“Stop being so pathetic! Just quit stuttering and acting like you’re the fucking victim all the time!!” Max made a small fist, pounding it against his counselor’s thigh, causing him to flinch back farther, “You’re an adult but you act like half the kids here, you immature, entitled asshole!!”

Livid tears started to blur the boy’s vision as he repeatedly rammed his knuckles into the man’s leg.

“This is all your fault! Why can’t you just let things BE!? I HATE YOU!”

Max felt himself devolve into a blubbering mess as his hits became less violent and he instead clung to the hem of his counselor’s shorts in pathetic desperation. His knees felt weak and he shoved his face against the redhead’s leg for support as another wave of sobs began to wrack his body.

“I- hate you...”

____________________________

David pressed his legs harder into the back of the couch, looking down, wide-eyed, at the boy crying against his leg. He clenched the crest of the sofa with white knuckles, leaning back at an angle to try and distance himself.

‘This is not good.’

Max was short and only came to about hip level on the man, an unfortunate fact as that now meant the camper was pressing his wet face right into the top of his left thigh.

“Max-“

His hands were shaking with the urge to push the boy off, but the crushing guilt he felt prevented him from making a move, because the boy was right-- this was his fault. He shouldn’t have pushed. He’d messed up. Big time.

He tried to steady his breathing and shake the uneasy feelings that having the kid’s tear-and-snot soaked face pushed close to him like this threatened. Max needed him to not be the victim, Max needed help.

The man cautiously lifted a hand, letting it hover for a moment before resting it on the camper’s head. The contact made the boy grip his pant leg tighter and let out an extra heavy sob, making the counselor grimace and nearly pull away.

“Max.. What can I do to make this better..?” David’s voice cracked slightly as he spoke through the rising lump in his throat.

The concerned voice made the boy look up, making the man’s stomach drop. It all added up to just too much.

His fingers through the black curly hair as big wet eyes looked up at him from right beside his groin, the boy’s innocent and helpless expression as he inadvertently pinned the tall man against the couch, the way his his small fists squeezed and kneaded the fabric up against his thigh, and how all of this shot a warm sensation through the counselor’s gut.

The room was spinning as panic and guilt consumed David. He couldn’t breathe and he felt like he was about to throw up. He needed an out, immediately.

“I need to- the- there’s-“ The redhead sounded and looked like he’d just run a marathon, “Gwen needs help!”

He forcefully nudged Max off of him, and squirmed away from the kid’s tight grip.

“David, please,”  The camper cried out, letting himself fall to the floor, “What did I do wrong, please!!!”

The man stood, jerking between running for the door and needing to stay and fix this horrible mess.

“I- Max- no, you haven’t done anything, I just-“ He grimaced at the choked noise of the small crumpled frame laid at the foot of the couch, “I’ll be back I just have to go- I’m sorry.”

The man stumbled quickly towards the door, trying to escape the pained wails of the camper as fast as he could. As soon the front door shut behind him he let out a weepy cry of distress and began to bawl profusely, his chest heaving with the sensation of imploding. He hunched over precariously, ripping at his hair as he cursed himself aggressively.

After minutes of chaotic, self abusive atonement for his guilt, he stopped crying and sat in silence.

‘I am in hell.’

He headed off to find his coworker and the other campers.

..........

“Where’s Max?” Gwen called when the man was within earshot.

“He’s, uh.. not doing so well..” David replied once he’d come closer, “I’ll probably check up on him again soon.”

“If I find one thing in that cabin out of place..”

The redhead grinned half heartedly at his coworker before glancing over the other camp attendees.

“You’re handling them alright?”

“Yes, David, I know how to watch kids make macaroni art.” The woman scoffed, almost offended, “I’m not a completely incompetent counselor. Anyways, there’s more pressing matters for you to attend to.”

The man scuffed his shoe against the mess hall floor.

“I just don’t get why you don’t want to be the one checking on him. You seem very concerned about him-- not that I’m not, it’s just, y’know..”

“It’s hard?”

“Yeah, and if you did it, I would be able to do more activities that aren’t just... gluing pasta.”

David looked around, crossing his fingers.

“So you want me to be the camp equivalent of a stay at home mom.”

“Wha- no!!! That’s not what I meant at all!”

“Uh-huh.” Gwen cocked her hip and smiled sarcastically at the nervous man, “In all honesty, though, I think you’re better at handling him than me.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well for one, you have an ungodly amount of devotion to this camp, and by proxy these little shits.” She gestured towards the campers, “And Max is the biggest little shit of them all.”

“Language..”

“You have a big heart, David, and you got him to open up to you. He likes you -- more than he likes me, at least -- and my psych degree isn’t gonna do jack if he doesn’t want to open up.”

Her coworker’s face showed quiet resignation as she continued.

“I’m here to help you, but it seems like you’re gonna have to do the brunt work with this particular case.”

“Thank you, Gwen.” He looked at her with dull eyes, “I should probably go again then.”

___________________________

The soft whine of the door swinging shook Max from his daze. He hadn’t moved locations, he just sat on the hard floor with his back against the back of the couch. He dragged his gaze up to the man that had just re-entered.

‘The audacity.’

The boy’s thoughts were slow and echoed around his skull without fervor.

“Hey, Max.. sorry about the rush earlier, ahah...”

‘Are you serious?’

David stood awkwardly, rubbing his neck before taking a step forward and crouching down to the boy’s level and attempting to put on a smile.

“I was looking at the salamander out there before I came inside.. I was thinking she must be pretty hungry.”

Confronted with silence, the man realized his prompt would have to be more direct.

“Do you wanna go find some worms and feed her with me?”

The kid looked at his counselor, blinking slowly for a couple seconds. He nodded his head slightly.

‘Salamander.’

He did want to see her.

Accepting the outreached hand, the two got to their feet, the camper slightly wobbling as he followed the adult out of the cabin. He let himself be led down the porch steps and into the outskirts of the forest. The two didn’t exchange words as David crouched and turned over a large rock and a few logs and began rummaging through the damp soil.

It didn’t take long to dig up an earthworm, of which the man proceeded to drop into the camper’s hand. The sensation of the slimy, wriggling pink body made Max cringe slightly, but not enough to protest as another three were dropped into his cupped palms.

“Think that’ll be enough?” The counselor beamed, a bit of his sunshine returning.

The kid nodded in response and turned back towards the cabin, teetering slightly as he made his way over the uneven ground. Flipping the debris back over, his superior quickly caught up, and they walked the short stretch together.

Kneeling side by side in front of the plastic aquarium, the two peered into the semi-murky pond water.

“You think we should cut ‘em up?” The kid’s first words since David had left came out a bit raw.

He looked up at the green and brown flecked eyes of his counselor, studying the rosy face they were set in briefly, while waiting for the answer. The man’s eyes looked stunningly similar to the green iridescent back of the salamander.

“Um..” David looked from the worms in the boy’s hand to the amphibian in the tub, “We can try giving her the smallest one, and if she doesn’t take it we can try cutting the others.”

Max agreed. Pinching the skinniest worm, he dangled it into the water, half submerged so that his fingers didn’t break the surface. The jerking movement of the struggling bug seemed to excited the larval salamander and she wiggled towards the surface with cautious alacrity. She was too apprehensive to take it from him directly so the boy let go of the worm, letting it sink a few inches before the amphibian eagerly darted forward and sucked it down.  

Max grinned, happily looking up at his counselor for a split second before going to drop in another morsel.

“Do you want to give her to Nikki during free time in about-“ The man checked his watch, “- an hour?”

The camper nodded.

........

Max stood nervously by the activities field, picking at his fingers. His counselor had helped carry the sloshing, makeshift aquarium to the outskirts of the open area where they set it on a small shady knoll. He then badgered the man to leave so that he could present his friends with the apology gift by himself.

Excited shouts rang through the air as kids began to pour out of the mess hall, where they had been having their after-lunch activity. Free-time was starting, which meant Neil and Nikki would at least pass through the field. The kid rocked from his heels to his toes as he impatiently watched the other campers pass by, eyes peeled for the duo.

After the initial flood of bodies passed, he spotted the two meandering closer, prompting him to dart forward and intercept their path.  He was met with less than friendly looks.

“Hey, guys.” The kid’s voice jumped to an ungodly pitch, completely betraying his air of nonchalance.

The taller boy looked him up and down with a conflicted expression.

“What’s up, Max.” The tone was abrasive, but at least he wasn't told to fuck off.

“Can I show you something?”

His friends shared a glance.

“It’s just right over there! I swear on Space Kid’s life it’s nothing bad, you’ll really like it actually!”

“Okay.” It was Nikki that spoke now, obviously picking up on Max’s uncharacteristic desperation. The boy waved his companions to follow him, which they did so at a distance.

After a few steps, they found themselves in front of a clear plastic tub that Max was kneeling by enthusiastically.

“Look!”

The girl curiously and peered into the shallow, murky water where a small black form was floating. She apprehensively squatted by the container and looked closer.

“Oh my god, what IS that!?” She squealed delightedly, plunging her hands into the aquarium to try and touch the animal, “Neil, come see!!”

The gawky boy joined the others, inspecting the amphibian as his friend tried to grab its slippery body.

“David says it’s a baby tiger salamander, like their version of tadpoles.”

“Wow!” The blue haired girl beamed, finally snatching the creature in her hand and bringing it to just under the surface to get a better look.

“Where’d you find it?” Neil eyed the other boy suspiciously.

“Well, uh.. I caught it yesterday in a marsh thingy.. I got her for Nikki.” Max stood up, radiating discomfort, “As like.. an apology..”

The girl looked up, blinking rapidly for a second as the small amphibian wriggled out of her momentarily distracted fingers.

“Oh..”

She seemed to think for a second as she stared back and forth between her friends, chewing her lip for a second before giving a soft smile.

“Okay!”

The black haired boy let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

“Okay?”

She went back to fishing for the salamander.

“Yeah! I’m accepting your gift, but.. I don’t really forgive you yet.”

Max’s face scrunched up, looking over at his nerdy companion standing next to him.

“Um.. does that mean you’ll still avoid me?”

God, he sounded pathetic. He squeezed his fingers anxiously as he watched his friend stand up and approach him. She suddenly thrust her hand out, offering a handshake.

“No more avoiding, as long as you promise to help take care of Fiona.”

“Fiona?” Max gingerly met her grip with his own, gazing at her expectant face.

“Yeah, that’s her name! I just thought of it! Do you like it?” The blue haired girl vigorously shook his hand, excitedly gesturing towards the plastic tub.

“It’s perfect.” A small, genuine smile formed on the boy’s lips at his re-acceptance into the trio.

“Now, as your first assignment, you have to help us carry her to the tent.” She returned to the side of the tank, taking the position to pick it up.

“And just which tent may that be?” Neil dejectedly crossed his arm.

“Ours of course, silly! She’s our child now!” She bounced lightly as Max joined her to help hoist up the water-filled bin.

“Huh uh, no way, that thing is going as far on YOUR side as it can get, I do NOT want that stinky water splashing on any of my equipment!”

Max grinned as his two friends continued to bicker as they all slowly wobbled their way to the path. At least his friends were back.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, this happened because of a dream I had. 
> 
> Also a big thanks to FelineJaye and Kialish for writing Living With Max, one of my all time favorite fics, it inspired me to write my own!! 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I would love constructive critiscism as well as positive feedback if you have any! 
> 
> Hate comments will be deleted, but thanks for giving me another hit by coming haha!
> 
> Playlist for fic: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZXN3XKOeaDhpE-7Xm-beuZ7whmtCr9ma
> 
> Thank you to Rin_Ramen for beta reading!


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